so far, everything we voted on has been anything but tax reform and pro-jobs legislation. the energy to power an american renaissance is right below our feet. west virginia is blessed with abundant natural resources, and more than that, an army of great men and women willing to extract it. pursuing environmental policy is based on unproven science is the wrong path -- policies based on unproven science is the wrong path. [applause]finally, at home i'm working to empower students by detailing the bureaucracy that has prohibited positive education reform for decades. revitalization is predicated on leadership. the societal problems dragging our country down are not new. they are magnified during economic downturn. as conservatives, we have to lead by example.

my mother always told me, you can't stop through legislation. it has to come from the heart. the westery day in virginia legislature to impart the tenets of servitude as him to everyone who has been tasked to lead my great state. you'd be surprised how much have in common with people, even when they're on the other side of the aisle. west virginia is on the verge of greatness, and america can see a rebirth of prosperity. conservatism and these young leaders will lead the way. as i said, my state motto is mountaineers are always free. i believe america should always be free. thank you. >> up next, the auditor of franklin county, ohio. his life and career have been about service to his country and

community. he is a veteran of the u.s. army and served with coalition forces that liberated kuwait during the 1991 persian gulf war. .lease welcome clarence mingo >> good afternoon. . i'm clarence mingo from the great state of ohio. it's a pleasure to be able to address the conference today. my time is brief, but i'd like to leave three points with you that will aid us through our flight as we journey to and beyond 2013. in 2008 and 2012, the republican party suffered epic losses. two presidential races lost back-to-back, very difficult to recover from. among the reasons for those defeats was the fact of the gop is not sufficiently diverse. you and i know that we are working tirelessly to ensure that diversity abounds within

our party, and we know there is significant amounts of more work to be done. the question we must ask ourselves, as we seek diversity, will we always examine the character of the individual for high office. it is a time-honored tradition in the republican party that we first examine the character of our candidates before endeavoring to look after skin color. this is a principle we must not abandon. we must first always examine the character of our candidates to thereafter determine whether or not there is sufficient custody for service. ensure the merit in public always has the best measure of public officials of the gop can offer. we must first always endeavor to value the character of her individuals before we examine the color of their skin. we have done at, terrific thing within the gop. we are doing an excellent job at ensuring that in the top tiers

of our party, there is sufficient diversity. we know all too well about tim scott, colin powell, condoleezza rice, allen west, and many others. this is an inequitable equation because we have diversity at the top of the party, but part in the soul the party still does not reflect a sufficient measure -- the heart and soul of the party still does not reflect a sufficient measure of diversity. we will use the persuasive force of our ideas alone to ensure that we are winning hearts and minds to our cause. the persuasive force of our ideas alone, no political promises, no tricks, no gimmicks, no political gestures, merely good and sound ideas that will win the hearts and minds of the american people. we know that we are the party that believes individuals are best suited to determine their future, and not government. we believe that economic freedom, entrepreneurship, and free-market principles will ensure success for every american.

we are the party that believes that democracy must be promoted and protected abroad. these are good and sound principles that will persuade any constituency, black, white, rich or poor or anything in between to the ranks of the gop. i can assure you that the principles upon which the gop was founded are good, and they are strong. we must only message effectively these principles to ensure that the american people and diverse constituencies are gravitated towards the gop because of the persuasive force of our ideas. i have the pleasure of dining with two men last night from india. they told me a very compelling story about how they arrived in late 1970's and came to the united states with only seven dollars in their pocket and a very small suitcase. these men today are successful entrepreneurs, a credit to their country, enhancing the lives of the family. why? because of conservative mensa polls that run true --

conservative principles of run true and strong in any constituency. the last point i would leave you with, a call to strengthen our resolve. we must strengthen our resolve. the conservative movement and gop is under attack. we know this all too well. i want to give you great confidence in knowing that we are americans, we are conservatives, we are right for the times in which we are living. we have nothing to fear for opponents. our ideas and policies are strong, and our candidates are effective. , confident in knowing that the policies we put forth and the ideas that make up the conservative movement are timeless, family-friendly, and reflect the maximum we the people. i'm clarence mingo. race and peace to all of you. they do so much.

-- grace and peace to all of you. thank you so much. [applause]>> i'm excited to bring another strong conservative woman. she was first elected to the michigan house, chaired house education committee, and the elections in assets committee and served on the committees on financial services insurance, tax policy, and legislative counsel. please welcome lisa post humus lisa. >> thank you. the great state of michigan is the comeback state rate it is no national secret of the past decade has not been a positive one for us in michigan.

under some of the most leadershi liberal leadership ine nation, we have experienced the highest unemployment rate in the country for four consecutive years. we were the only state in america to lose population in the last. the only business booming in our state was the moving industry. we have one of the dumbest corporate taxes that you can think of that sends our jobs to your state. our story is one for washington, d.c. to look at. unfortunately, barack obama has gotten the wrong message. when he was elected in 2008, president-elect obama at an economic summit in chicago. for reasons i will never be able to understand, he asked michigan's liberal democrat tv host, tofailed attend and sit right at the side of president-elect obama and to see theent biden president tell the nation he

was going to implement the same failed liberal policies that were tried and failed in michigan. it was scary and mind blowing. residents of michigan were stunned. jennifer granholm assured .ichigan that we were blown away. the final state of the state address, granholm told us that there were no silver bullets and that michigan's new leader would not have an answer to michigan's problems. as a young adult, i was disappointed in the squandered an absent leadership for my capital, and as a mother, i feared for the future of our state. but my kids would not be able to, nor would want to stay in michigan. -- state, that my kids would not be able to, nor would want to stay in michigan. we need leaders who would fight for hard-working taxpayers, who

would demand efficient, effective and accountable government and who would settle for nothing less than real results. our nightmare ended in 2010, when the elected conservatives to lead and change course. i was honored to join republican governor rick snyder as part of that sweeping change. in two years, we took a $2 billion deficit and turned into into $500 million surplus. we balanced our budget using no gimmicks, no fixes, no funny money, no band-aids. we were the only state in america to pay down billions of dollars in long-term debt. job killingur michigan business tax, replacing it with a simple, fair, efficient corporate tax while we rolled back the income tax rates for hard-working michigan families. as chair of the house

education committee, we are hard at work reforming our education system by giving parents and no student opportuny in challenging the status quo. thently, michigan became 24th right to work state in the country. [applause]if we can do it in michigan, if we can do it in michigan, the birthplace of the union, we can do it anywhere. let me tell you what we're doing. personal income is rising. unemployment has declined. we have the second-highest economic growth rate in the country. we are the third best in high tech job growth. these results are real. while we have watched our largest cities struggle under decades of failed liberal policies.

-- policies, we are optimistic about the future of michigan and of detroit. [applause]conservatism and common sense were the silver bullets. jennifer granholm just couldn't get -- bullets jennifer granholm just couldn't get. heededatives in michigan the call. washington, d.c. can literally take a lesson from michigan. it gives me great joy to see all the time-tested conservatives in this room today. it makes my heart leapt when i look out there and see all of our young people. i say to you, thank you. thank you for believing in america. thank you for fighting for freedom. the baton has been passed. this is our generation's time to lead, because this is our america. her future belongs to our children.

god bless you, god bless our troops, god bless america. thank you so much. >> wow.se] byshannon made history becoming oklahoma's youngest speaker of the house at age 34. no stranger to firsts, shannon was first elected to the house in 2007 as the first republican to hold his state and the first african-american elected to the legislature from southern oklahoma. please join me in welcoming the honorable t.w. shannon. >> good afternoon. it is so great to be her on the same stage as so many iconic conservatives.

just been quite an honor to be here and be a part of this event. it is not just the leaders of today who are impressive, but the leaders of the future whom i got to meet and spend time with. the speaker of the house from florida will be on stage in a moment. the expectation is not very high for anybody from florida. don't worry. [applause]speaking of low expectations, better get into my speech. as amy said, i'm from oklahoma. you might know it is the reddest state in the nation, a place where president obama lost every single county. that was even against mitt romney. is that too soon? [laughter]for the record, i think that joke was only 47% funny. sorry, governor, i couldn't resist.

i was telling you about oklahoma. where the reddest state in the union. barack obama lost every county in 2012 and 2008. he lost several oklahoma counties in the dem accredit primary. -- democratic primary. . have two names for you jim, a tom coburn. we aren't just conservative for the sake of being conservative. we are conservative because we know firsthand the conservative principles lead to prosperity. we must realize that the average american doesn't wake up each morning and ask, how conservative my going to be today -- my going to be today? -- am i going to be today? what they think about is how to provide for their families. we also know what does not

create prosperity. we have all seen it. dependence on government leads to a lifetime of poverty addiction and human failure. we have seen it, and we don't like it. if i'm committed to anything in my life, i am on a passionate quest to see americans rise up to a new standard of prosperity, success, and human dignity. that will only come when individuals rise to the challenge of personal responsibility and hard work, replacing an attitude of entitlement with an attitude of determination. in oklahoma, we have put in place conservative policies to encourage that shift. we raised standards and rode back outdated programs that tell women and minorities that we expect less of them. i carried legislation that evens the playing field in oklahoma, treating everyone with true equality. i don't want my son and daughter growing up in thinking there is a special standard to compete and succeed. they can compete and succeed on their own. i didn't want to pass

that legislation just to make a statement. i did it because i believe it will help my children and countless others be more successful. you have to raise expectations if you want to increase prosperity. we put in place in oklahoma a lot of conservative policies, but we didn't do it just be conservative. we did it so our fellow oklahomans would have greater opportunities for prosperity. if you look at oklahoma, that's exactly what you will see. today we are one of the top states in terms of job growth, one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation. that means more oklahomans are working with more jobs added each month. the best social program out there is not welfare. it's a good paying job. as my mentor and friend said, we should never define compassion by the people -- the number of people we add to the medicaid role, but by the number we get off medicaid. [applause]it doesn't stop with

job creation. then they robbed the workers with overwhelming taxes and fees. not in oklahoma. we believe in letting hard- working people keep more of what they aren't. 14th lowest overall state of local tax burden in the country. we show our fellow state and congress if they would pay attention how to properly balance the budget. mr. president, if you're listening, all give you a hint. the key is controlling spending, not raising taxes. toplause]when it comes valuing lives, oklahoma has gotten example for the nation as well. a society that does not value human life will fail. life is a blessing from god. each of us are made in his image. which crazy to another point. oklahoma, we don't apologize for our faith -- which brings me to another point. oklahoma, we don't apologize for our faith. [applause]we heard a lot this week about rand paul, but don't

forget about the apostle paul. our faith guides us to know right from wrong and to love our brothers and sisters. these are not things for which we should apologize. i'm glad we got to be here today and sure we are doing in oklahoma. -- share what we are doing in oklahoma. it is like the guy who shine my shoes at the airport on my way here. i hear some of the best advice come from taxi drivers and shoeshine guys. i told the guy he was the best shoeshine i ever had. the sky was smooth. he turned to me and said, brother, don't tell me -- this guy was smooth. he turned to me and said, brother, don't tell me. show me. thank you so much for allowing me to be here. may god bless you and your families and our great country. >> ladies and gentlemen, the honorable will weatherford is a speaker of the

house of representatives. today, will is the youngest speaker in america. please welcome the speaker of the florida statehouse, the honorable will weatherford. >> how's everybody doing? thanks for the shout out, tw. that was nice. statement has wonderful, distinguished leaders like jeb bush and marco rubio, who who is beginning name dropped a lot today. marco was my first speaker in florida. that's how i got to know him. you got to know him as the man who beat charlie crist. you may not have heard about this, but charlie is thinking about running for office again as governor in florida. this time, he's going to be a

democrat. my thought is he should go somewhere where his policies would be appreciated and embraced. i'm thinking the master degrees, maybe. -- thinking the ambassador to greece, maybe. i was homeschooled growing up as a young man. the reason my mom chose to homeschool is is she wanted us to understand fundamental things, things like the fact that our rights are available -- in alienable and do not come from government. understanding that we can have equal opportunity in this country, but not necessarily equal outcomes. sometimes i wonder and think, what would the country be like if my mom could have homeschooled president obama? [laughter]i will be the first to tell you, i love the republican

party. let me be clear. our cause here today is not about saving equality, it's about saving a nation is saving the idea of america. thehe nation and saving idea of america. how do we do that? i have good news and bad news. the bad news is that i believe we as a people are less free today than we were four years ago. with this administration in the white house, we will probably continue on that trend for the next three and a half years. that i believes states have an amazing opportunity, but it's a choice. we can choose to join the collectivism, groupthink mentality that is going on in washington or we can place our own path. states like florida can take destiny into their own hands. we can embrace free markets, embrace individual liberty, and

put a flag down and establish pockets of freedom all over america. we can build our own atlantis. everyone is so focused on this town and what happens here in washington. but i'm here to tell you is that the real battle is for freedom, the real battle for the republic is taking place in state capitals all across america. i believe the conservatives are winning those battles in our state. it is why i'm here, and it's what gets me fired up when i wake up every single day in the morning. let me tell you about what we're doing in florida. we are creating a pocket of freedom, a pocket of freedom with education reforms that put the interest of families and students first by embracing choice and technology and accountability. freedom solves problems that government cannot. education equals freedom. we are creating a pocket of

freedom by embracing our budget every single year and passing it in a balanced way. we are showing the federal government that you don't have to spend money that you don't have. we are creating a pocket of freedom by lowering taxes and regulations on business so we can hire more floridians instead of people paying more for their government. let me tell you one more way we are planning a flag -- planting a flag in our state. there is an increasing trend in washington that someone described as cartel federalism. states are being lured -- i would argue, coerced -- into expanding programs like medicaid and passing regulations federal mandate, but with the promise of free money. they are trying to buy us off. one by one. i am not buying it. florida will not buy it, and america should not buy it. [applause]we will stand up to

their inflexible plans and work in our own solution. one that better reflects the needs and priorities of our state. here is the bottom line. it is time for the state to take a stand. it is time for florida and other states that are led by conservatives to create true prophets of freedom -- pockets of freedom. we are rekindling the ideal that through hard work and playing by the rules, and with the government out of her way, anyone can succeed. it is this latter up concept that is so unique to this country. we're doing all we can to make that ladder wider and higher and easier to climb for every floridian. by doing so, we will create a pocket of freedom that will be the envy of america and of the world. come on down and hang with us in florida. we are making changes. god bless you, thank you very much. god bless america. >> jerry yamaguchi is

one of the youngest elected officials in the state of california and the youngest in orange county history. he was first elected in november 2008 at the age of 19 for a term of four years. please join me in welcoming councilman yamaguchi. >> how you all doing? i'm very happy to be here. i'm very excited to see behind me the next generation of conservatives. i was elected at the age of 19 and i heard every joke in the book about young people. the one that stuck with me most was, son, i have ties older than

you. iwould come back and explain, think it is time for a wardrobe update. going through city council and whatnot, i learned a great deal. coming from that experience, i have come back and draw conclusions. moving forward, we have our next generation of conservatives and we have new challenges. this is where our future is. this is where our future assemblyman, congressmen, senators and future conservative president is going to come from. we have 30 great conservative governors that are fighting the raising of taxes at a state- level. we don't have have a conservative leader at the local level. we have unions that are liberal and pushing their agenda. the local level continuing to use the local leaders to get their gains of the local governments.

we have had restrictions of garage sales. government is continuing to grow and grow. i was able to take the mayor, who came out and said, this is the cost of doing business. i said it isn't, mr. mayor. the cost of doing business is not an excuse to raise taxes. moving forward with our next generation, i think the new challenges, we need to challenge ourselves as well as the young people. we need to educate them, teach them, share our experiences and history. number two, to motivate. to encourage them, show them the potential and show them their opportunities in government and leadership. third, to empower them. empower the young people and the next generation. to give them the tools, resources, and confidence that they can go out and run at the age of 19, 23, to be a state assembly. -- the state simply.

i ran for student government in elementary school, middle school, and high school. it wasn't until my fourth time running at the age of 19, city council. that is where i pull my first quote from. if at first you don't succeed, your normal. -- you're normal. of aause]i have a vision more stable and secure community, state, and country. at this point in time, we need to look at and realize we have been through some tough times. i have hope. i came here with hope. if i turn around and see these young men and women that have joined here today, i don't have the hope anymore. i know for a fact that my generation is ready to listen, eager to learn, and ready to carry the flag of conservatism into the future. to prepare the

next generation. it is time to stand up for our country, stand up for conservative values, and commit ourselves -- old, young, women, men, any color of your skin -- it is time to commit ourselves stand and prepare the next generation to lead our cities, our skates, and our country. -- our states, and our country. thank you for all that you do today. for all those watching, thank you for what you do for your young people, for your community, and our country. thank you. >> wow.se] what a dynamic group. we could have the next ted cruz or sarah palin sitting there. i'm honored. i want you all to join me in giving them a round of applause.

this is the future of the conservative movement, and future of america. >> let's hear it for the one more time. i know you're tired. -- for them one more time. i know you're tired. >> i want to tell you a story that's geared to my heart. -- dear to my heart. we just put my grandfather in the ground last week. he was a world war ii veteran. the honor guard lost composure and cried a little bit, which are not supposed to do, but it's understandable. i noticed younger people at the funeral just hanging out. people don't know, this man was there. he was there and dropping bombs

on the people who at times almost took away freedom. it slipped from our grasp. from planet earth, possibly, for the rest of all-time. , gun controlhere -- they left at. it's so absurd. using this administration is going to try to take -- you think is ministration is going to try to take their guns away -- administration is going to try to take their guns away? yes. at some point, this conversation happened in germany. you think adolf wants to take your guns away? not to sound reactionary, but at every point throughout history, before that last inch of freedom was taken, that last

liberty was taken from the people, there'll always been people there to laugh at you until you that it is absurd to to believe it is actually happening. -- and tell you that it is absurd to believe it is happening. and that is not an argument. date you, grandpa fred. that's it. we have to introduce great people. first up, susan collins. since being elected in texas in 2006 and being reelected in 2010, she has been driving sweeping reform in state purchasing and contracting. number two, -- i thought you were coming out of once. give susan a round of applause. she's honorable. number two, steve pearce, who served as u.s. are presented of for the second district of new mexico. served as chairman of the congressional western caucus.

any small business owners in the house? it's lunch break. founder, president and ceo of select, one of the top 500 hispanic benefits founded by president bush to serve on the regulatory fairness board. give him more energy than that. the first woman to lead a fortune 20 company serving as the chief executive offer -- officer of hewlett- packard. she ran against four-time democratic senator barbara .oxer carly furey and is here. -- carly fiorina is here. let them all know you love them. thank you and good

afternoon to those of you who are hanging in here. we have a really exciting and fun panel for you this afternoon. as the title suggests, we are not here to discuss the future of the republican party. we're here to talk about the state of american business. thank you. ast year, when i addressed cpac, i talked about technology. it has fundamentally altered the pace of change for our communities and nation. technology empowers the individual in truly historic ways. technology also overwhelms. overwhelms large, centralized bureaucracies, rendering them increasingly incompetent, even

if they remain powerful. at leastl hear from one of our panelists, technology is also a tool to enforce transparency and accountability. as i mentioned, today's topic is the state of business in america today. i start with technology, because it sets the frame for everything we need to do. it limits the time in which we have to do it. i want to start with two anecdotes. recently, i was on a sunday morning newscast. this week, with george stephanopoulos. i had the opportunity to debate paul krugman. in the course of this debate, i made what i thought was a pretty basic statement. i said, when we think about the health of the u.s. economy, we have to remember that a private sector job in a public-sector job -- and a public-sector job

are not the same thing. it private sector job pays for itself. a public-sector job is paid for by taxpayers. i thought it was a pretty obvious statement. later, my staff was contacted by a reporter who felt that he needed to fact check the statement. seriously. it was interesting to me, because it said how little so many people understand what makes the economy go. one of our fundamental issues in this country is we have a lot of people setting policy that impacts our economy, but they don't understand how the economy actually works. and the impact of that policy. my second anecdote is this, in a of smallll, 70% business owners said that they thought the federal government was hostile to them.

not neutral. not negative. hostile. remember that figure, remember that statement. here we have the stock market achieving record highs day after day. we have large companies in many, many industries reporting record profits. the state of our economy is not good. we know these statistics, but they are worth repeating. 12.3 million still unemployed. one in six americans lives in poverty. that burden falls most heavily on women and their children. there are 48 million americans living on food stamps. we have lost 6.4 million full- time jobs in this country, 8 million americans are working part-time and they would rather work full-time. 10 million americans have dropped out altogether. why?

because small business and entrepreneurship is the engine of growth in this american economy. we know, and you will hear inspiring stories from some of our panelists today, every american gets there first chance in a small business. we know that wave after wave of immigrants gets there first hand hold on that first rung of the american ladder by opening a small business. i started out in a little business with nine people. my story is not unique. it is the american story. deli or thes the auto mechanic or it services small business is the engine of growth for this economy. over twoinesses create thirds of the jobs in this country, small and new businesses employ over half the

people. i was privileged to be the chief executive of hewlett-packard for six years. during that time, we generated 11 patents a day. but do you know that small businesses innovate at a rate 11 times that of big businesses? words at a small businesses that of the engine of growth in our country. today fewer small businesses are forming and more small businesses are failing than at any time in the last 40 years. why is that? them, they will tell you it is just too hard. a 27,000 page federal tax code today.

hundreds of new federal regulations are enacted every single year and virtually never is a single regulation repealed. a complexity that is impossible to navigate. a big business can navigate this. big labor can navigate the government. , simplifyingmental tax reform. tweet not need to tweak our tax code to get a budget deal. to tweak ourneed tax cut to get a budget deal. recommendation -- we are choking the life out of the american economy. and we have the numbers to prove it. in order to get this economy back on its feet, in order for this country to be the beacon of many that are

already here and dream of coming here, we need three other things. fundamental reforms. we need fundamental education reform. we talked about that a lot in this conference but let us remember what is really needed. we have spent more money per pupil on education in this country than virtually every other country in the civilized world. our results are poor. we have increased the budget of the department of education for virtually every year in the last 40 years and get the quality of our education continues to deteriorate. why? because it isn't about how much money you spend. whens about how, where, hig the, and for whom? we must push for the opportunity for every parent to have the choice and every child to have a chance. [applause]

and we also need those folks who maybe don't have a higher degree that have huge ambitions and dreams. we need a legal immigration system that works in this country because this is the century of brain power. and finally we need fundamental innovation reform. perhaps we will talk about that with our panel. but it means the government has to decide to play the right role in encouraging and fostering innovation. creating an environment where people can take a risk. the right role for government most definitely is not to pick winners and losers and to try and act like a venture capitalist. the do a lousy job. job.ey do a lousy this is the 21st century, a century of brainpower and innovation. small business and

entrepreneurship is where this starts. it is fundamental that as we look at the state of our economy going forward that we think about small businesses and entrepreneurs first. that is why i am so delighted to have a panel that we have with us today. i am going to invite each of them to come to the podium and give a brief remarks and then we will engage in a conversation. i will start by asking susan .ombs to make a few remarks she knows a thing or two about using technology to enforce transparency in government and to accelerate accountability. susan, please. [applause] >> i kept hearing the familiar name, john gall. i downloaded atlas shrugged on reread it. i am pleased to tell all of you that he is alive and well and

living in texas. very moderate and timely. if you take a look at where we are with the economy washington is telling businesses that everything they do is bad. they're causing harm. they need be reined in and leave everything to government. i thought we came to this country several hundred years ago we left the kings behind. we thought we did. king obama started his reign. those things i took away from the book that i think are important -- #one is that some part of the federal government hates successful businesses and they show it through tax or regulatory policy or extortion. look at the epa, the endangered species act, and the mrb. everything was torn down and given away to the worst and most incompetent. they had to turn over the fruit and of annuity -- the fruits of

ingenuity and innovation. atlas being the wonderful giant who kept the world going. government is incapable of managing success tweet four years -- of managing success. can you imagine the white house disneyworld?un it certainly seems joe biden is central casting for goofy. so why is he happy to be living in texas? three reasons, after our last session -- after our last recession we diversify our economy and now we have opened it up to a lot of the north. second point, it is true capital will flee a hostile environment.

in texas we have a sharp eye on new regulations and policies and we love to sue. we love to sue the epa, the ,bama administration, voeter id we hope that keeps them on their toes. we want the climate to be an engine of growth. it does pay off. the federal reserve has a chart showing 22 years that texas is leading the country. third, rational government spending policies say you did not have to keep going back and extracting more taxes. our state that is the lowest of the 10 most populous states. our rainy day fund allows us to even out our spending. we have a balanced budget and because our expenses. he absolutely strong successes what i call a u-haul test.

going from texas to california is double then the other way. apply thee try to business of rigid the lessons of business -- we tried to apply the lessons of business. the fed can and to keep putting cash. when they get it wrong they hire more people and tighten the noose. market forces drive out incompetents into private-sector everywhere except for washington. lessons learned are big government is not your friend if you are a risk taker. what works in the spirit of entrepreneurship, innovation, etcetera people migrate towards success. levels ofes to all cities, counties, -- and engage in partnership with your citizens.

keep your books and your mind open. be sure you do not fall into a trap. operators at u-haul are waiting for your call. thank you. [applause] >> thank you so much. i would like as congressmen pearce to take the podium. he is a small-business owner himself. >> i appreciate it. i represent the second district of new mexico. 62% hispanic., you heard susan described at list. the question for us today is as -- we first of all need to think about the potential and kinetic energy. donald potential is. we have all seen these kids at school in the classroom and we

hope they live up to their potential. washington d.c., the redskins are home to one of their stories of potential vs kinetic energy. jimmy smith from my home town -- he came here to play professional football and had an outstanding year in his rookie year. he said the record, the all-time record for rushing in a super bowl from a rookie. he demonstrated potential his whole life and yet he went home two years later to capture that potential. came back from south sudan. i saw the president say they are starving as a people. the country is broke. they are sitting on a potential 350,000 barrels of oil today guess they have no modern day business owners and known to

come forward to say that they will get that oil to market. they said they're starting on abundance because they have no kinetic energy. is that was shrugging how they shrugged? developers owners -- that bad because the government is too strong. i will tell you a couple of stories from my district. tom hutchinson runs a local restaurant. years in the same family, it is paid for and solid. 110 employees and he recently told me that after obama-care comes into full action he is not sure that he is going to be able to keep all of his employees. 110 families depending on a small businessman who is being crushed by the regulations coming out of this town and by this president. in mexico have navajo coal miners making $60,000 per year. under president obama they are

being sent to the house to live under government assistance level checks. 60,000 per year, tax payer, gone. those coal miners will not impact the environment enough to be seen by the human eye. have 123 timber mills in the processing timber. from our national forests. is the last one standing. he is down from 96 employees and dropped to 12. that thell you american government is crushing american businesses. their crushing the middle-class. the genius of america is being silenced. our best performers are giving up. the hardest workers are walking away. businesses are our hope for the future and economy.

and they're looking at government and wondering what is going on. businesses are the thing that separates us from being south sudan. we have all the potential in america and our kinetic energy has realized this. and yet we are being silenced by a government. as atlas shrugged, i cannot answer that. i can say that atlas is shrugging. god bless you all, thank you very much. >> laughed and certainly not least we have jeanette hernandez-prenger. [applause] thank you. >> it is daunting to be standing in front of you. why am i standing here?

i am one of 23 million other americans to count a small business. and otherny of you stories we have heard i am the product of an immigrant. my father was mexican and my mother was portuguese. the staunchest conservatives you'll ever find who believed that if you work hard and did the best you could you could be anything you want to be. as a small-business owner i take great pride in offering benefits to my employees. over the years i have grown. i have grown organically, i took on steps that i could not afford, i provided great benefits for my employees. this panel is so important. are we producing tv right type of reports for the risks that we take? how many business owners wonder why am i doing this? my parents had a dream, that their