not know they knew where the senate floor was. and something so powerful happened, which is each of you engaged. it captivated the country as the american people looked at suddenly elected leaders doing something we have not seen in a long time, standing for principle. [cheers and applause] that was -- the filibuster was the first time in my life i have ever spoken on the floor of the senate. [applause] to my grave, i will owe rand paul a debt of gratitude. that the first time i spoke on

the senate, i had the opportunity to retry this -- read travis' letter from the alamo. the day of the filibuster was the 177th anniversary of the fall of the alamo. and, a native-r born texan, that if davy crockett and jim gould alive today, they would have been standing shoulder to shoulder with him on the floor of the senate. [applause] i got to read from shakespeare's -- crispin's day speech. there are some senators who were

not there that night who have held their manhoods cheap and as a result. [cheers and applause] i got to read the opening monologue from the great movie, patton. cleaned up a little bit to make it suitable for television. read president ronald reagan's 1964 a time for choosing speech. [cheers and applause] as they say in the beer commercial, it don't get no better than this. a second example is sequestration. sequestration has actually gone into effect. the white house is astonished. all of us remember the president's scare america tour. he went all over the country

talking about the dramatic consequences. washington, d.c. is the only place on earth where the phrase draconian 2% cuts can be uttered. [laughter] the president was self parody as he described the consequences of a 2.5% cut. it reminded me of the scene from murrayusters when bill is talking about the end of the world, cats and dogs living together. i half expected to see the marshmallow man come walking out. [applause] but the white house was certain republicans were going to fold under and cave. instead, we stood around and got the first small step. i underscore.

step to reining in our debt. [applause] and a third example. last week we voted on an amendment i authored to repeal funding for obamacare. [cheers and applause] i will confess, a couple of weeks ago when i said i would offer this amendment, more than a few of my colleagues were not thrilled. and yet, we saw every single republican in the senate vote unanimously to defund obamacare. [applause]

and the democrats all stood together to keep imposing the economic costs, the harm of people losing their insurance as employers are being forced to reduce their hours and insurance premiums are skyrocketing on young people. every democrat vote together to maintaining obamacare even if it pushes us into a recession. exactly right. [applause] but something that has not happened in a long time is happening. we are winning right now. what i want to address with you this evening at the end of this fantastic conference -- and i hope one of these days ann coulter will learn to speak her mind. [laughter] if we can get her to come out of that shell, she could have some powerful things to say.

what i want to talk about today is the question, how do we keep winning? simple steps. two number 1, defense the constitution. [cheers and applause] the constitution. number 2, champion growth and opportunity. the send -- defend the constitution. liberty is under assault from every direction. in second amendment is president obama and the senate democrats' cross hairs right now. we did receive helpful advice from joe biden. if you have any threats at home, go at home with a double

barreled shotgun and fired into the air. that is useful if you are being attacked by a flock of geese. or a drone. [cheers and applause] so maybe joe biden stumbled onto something after all. week, we had a hearing in the senate judiciary committee. a senior democrat explained to me that questions about the constitution have no role in the u.s. senate. because, she explains, it is congress' job to pass laws and the supreme court can decide

whether to throw them out or not. ?o you know what that statement is exactly the problem. [applause] that statement is reminiscent of nancy pelosi when she was asked what is the constitutional basis of obamacare and her answer was, are you serious? lot ofre a whole politicians, democrats and republicans, in washington who have not looked at the constitution in a long, long time. let me answer speaker pelosi. yes, we are serious. [cheers and applause] the second amendment provides for the rights of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. [cheers and applause]

of shall not be infringed did they not understand? it does not just end with the second amendment. the first amendment is a big target in congress. foraside their love regulating campaign speech because it seems every campaign elected official hates when the people dare criticize. is st. patrick's day. my irish mother recently reminded me that it is more than thettle ironic that national party that was the first national party to nominate the first two major party candidates to be president is today fighting a war on religious liberty.

it shows just how far we have gone to ask, what would john f. kennedy or al smith say to a democrat party that says to the catholic church, change your religious beliefs or we will use our power of the federal government to shut down your charity and your hospital? [applause] there was a time when standing for religious liberty enjoyed bipartisan support. we need to get back to that. [applause] amendment,e fifth which provides that none of us shall be provided -- denied life without due process of law. somehow, a drone from the sky hitting you from a cafe is not my definition of due process of

law. [applause] the fourth amendment that protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures. ndaa.d to repeal the [cheers and applause] the federal government does not have the authority to indefinitely detained a u.s. citizen on u.s. soil without due process of law. [applause] is the 10th amendment. something our omnipotent federal government seems to have forgotten all about. the 10th amendment provides that the powers not given to the federal government are reserved for the states and for the people. [applause]

how did we get a $16.50 trillion national debt? we have a federal government that thinks they have the authority to regulate our toilet seats and our light bulbs. we need to get back to the constitution. article 6 of the constitution provides that the constitution shall be the supreme law of the land. there is an ongoing effort to undermine united states' sovereignty. before i was in the senate, i was the solicitor general of texas. we stood up to the world court and to the united nations. [applause] to the president of the united states, who happen to be a republican.

i went before the supreme court of the united states and said, no president, republican or democrat, has the authority to give away u.s. sovereignty. [applause] we have seen republicans willing to stand up to republican presidents. my question to you is where were the democrats when rand and the rest of us were standing on the floor on drones? [cheers and applause] need to dothing we is we need to champion growth and opportunity. people are hurting right now. we are in the midst of what i call the great stagnation.

of onlyt obama is one two presidents's world war ii to face double-digit unemployment. for the last -- but she post-world war ii to face double-digit unemployment. there was one only time when we have had less than 1% economic growth. 1883.was from 1979 to coming out of jimmy carter and following the same policies of out of control debt, taxes, regulation. in facingreagan came that stagnation. he implemented policies the exact opposite of barack obama. 1979 to 1983, economic growth was zero. 0.8%.

obama did not learn the lesson from reagan that if he wants to do you know, if president obama had followed the reagan policy, and we had seen identical growth that president reagan saw, inheriting the same lousy economy that barack obama did, did you know that today we would have 7 million additional new jobs in america? let me help make that more concrete. 7 million new jobs is the equivalent of getting a job to every man, woman, and child in chicago, houston, philadelphia, and boston.

that's what we're talking about. [applause] and the stagnation under president obama doesn't follow uniformly. if you happen to be an environmental lawyer, you're doing great right now. the people who are hurting the most are those who are struggling in the least well-off amongst us. hispanicsident obama, unemployment climbed to 10%. african-american unemployment climbed to 14%. , i have beenme champing what i call opportunity conservativism. -- championing what i call opportunity conservativism. using the means of ascent of the economic ladder. explaining how our free-market

system has served as the most incredible engine for opportunity for millions of people from all over the world, who come with nothing and achieve anything. the policies of barack obama do not work, and the people that are hurting the most are young people, african-americans, hispanics, single moms, those who are finding their opportunity shut off to reach the american dream. we need to champion growth. growth at every stage to get the economy booming. we need to repeal obamacare. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] >> we need to repeal. frank. -- dodd-frank. talk about a bill you don't have

to read any further than the title. [laughter] we need to eliminate corporate welfare. [applause] need to build the keystone pipeline. [applause] we need to rein in the epa. [applause] in west texas, the epa is trying to use a lizard to shut down oil and gas production. do you know my view of lizards? they make darn fine boots. [applause] we need to audit the fed. [applause]

and we need to stop qe infinity. we need to abolish the u.s. department of education. [applause] education is too important for it to be governed by bureaucrats in washington, taking choices away from parents and kids. [applause] and we need to champion school choice. [applause] the civil rights issue of the next generation. i would like to see more democrats going and explaining to young kids trapped in

failing schools, young african- americans, why they are willing to consign -- confine another generation to not having a fair fair and equal shot at the american dream. [applause] we need to stand with israel. [applause] but we need to stop sending foreign aid to nations that hate us. [applause] just two weeks ago, president

obama canceled white house source and said $250 million to egypt. and sent 250 million dollars to egypt, with no conditions, nothing focused on u.s. national security principally wrote a check. -- security. simply wrote a check. we need to get back to growth and opportunity. spreading the message that our policies work, their policies don't, that government control hurts those struggling to ihieve the american dream -- can promise you something. abc, nbc, cbs, "the new york -- none of them are going to help spread that message. but we have something more powerful. we have each and every one of you. [applause] the world has changed. there are no longer gatekeepers that can decide what the

american people get to hear and what they don't get to hear. [applause] so i'm here today, asking for each and every one of your help telling the story. how many of you have a cell phone on you right now? i'm going to ask you to take out your cell phone and text the 733d growth to the number 33 . 33733.the word growth, when you do that, you will be joining us in helping spread the word, helping spread the word that freedom works, free-market policies work, the greatest avenue for improving the condition of those struggling to isieve the american dream limiting government and unleashing small businesses and entrepreneurs. in fact, i would ask everyone of you when you get home to go to the website, jobsgrowth.org.

go online. we are developing a positive row growth economic agenda that can pro-growthive, economic agenda that can be a contract with america that can spread opportunity. , ask for your input, your help developing concrete, pro-growth policies to bring americans together and get our economy back. i arrived in washington, d.c. to be sworn into office. [applause] when i stood on the floor of the senate, with my hand on the couldn't helpi but think back to 1957. 1957, my father came from cuba.

he had been imprisoned, tortured in cuba. he came to texas with nothing, with $100 in his underwear, did not speak it word of english. washed dishes, making $.50 an hour. floor, ion the senate couldn't help but think if someone had come up to that 18- year-old kid as he was washing dishes and suggested to him that 55 years hence, his son would be sworn into office as united states senator representing the great state of texas -- [applause] --that would have been unimaginable. beyonduld have been anything he could possibly have conceived. my father,re was sitting in the gallery, looking down as i took the oath of office. [applause]

my dad is here today. i'd like him to stand up. i love you, dad. [applause] in our family, that was a powerful moment. that's just one small example of the incredible freedom and opportunity this country provides. the history of the world, there has been no nation on earth that has listed so many people with nothing -- lifted so many people with nothing to prosperity. that is the legacy we are fighting for. every one of us is here i

because we want to make sure our kids and grandkids have the same opportunity, the same liberty we have been blessed to enjoy. [applause] we are here because we are not willing to give up on america. we are facing a fundamental choice. a choice that cuts across all issues. it is a choice between surrendering or standing up now. defend our liberty. on guns, do we surrender or do we stand up now? on drones, do we surrender, or do we stand up now? [applause] , orpending, do we surrender do we stand up now?

on debt, do we surrender, or do we stand up now. and on the constitution, do we surrender, or do we stand up now? [applause] that, my dear friends, is change we can believe in. thank you, and god bless you. [applause]

♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, let's give a final warm applause to our keynotes feature, great senator from the state of texas, ted cruz. -- keynote speaker, great senator from the state of texas, ted cruz. we have come to the end of the conference. i would first like to extend my most sincere appreciation to all those individuals who made this event possible, and special thanks go to our acu and ac ..s board of directors or it cpac has been a labor of love for decades. also like to thank all the acu staff and volunteers.

board member paul erickson. thank you for your hard work and leadership in planning the program. make thank you to our partners, -- big thank you to our partners, cosponsors, sponsors. i want to thank all of you who are here at cpac to celebrate our 40th anniversary, especially our young conservatives. you are the future of our country, and the next generation of leaders in our movement. over the years, we have at itsd a theme for cpac most descriptive of the times in which we live. this year we selected as our theme, america's future, the next generation of conservatives. new challenges and timeless and supposed. we are thankful to the conservative moments leaders for getting us to where we are.

i've had the opportunity opportunity in the last few days to personally thank them. i also want to particularly thank those younger leaders who appeared at this very podium, as we work to address the challenges of the new century. we are passing the torch to this next generation. leaders such as scott walker, senators kelly, a goat, ted cruz, rand paul, marco rubio grad. paul ryan. we also display the diversity of by highlighting conservative stars such as dr. ben carson, allen west, friends discus francisco chamber. -- francisca chamber.

we provided a forum for honest debate. unlike our liberal counterparts , what difference is not tolerated. we offered you an updating an inspirational conference. if we want to get america back on track and towards its rightful destiny, your commitment and participation is vital. we hope to see you at next year's cpac 2014, which will be held on march 6 and eight) the gaylord -- 8 right here at the gaylord. god bless you. please get home safely. thank you very much. ♪

>> the conservative political action conference wrapping up today. c-span's coverage live over the last several days. now we want to hear from you about what you think of the conference rat. the number on your screen. you can also send us a tweet, use the #cpac. this is the group's 40th annual meeting. they held their annual straw poll. this year's winner, senator rand paul of kentucky.

mitch is on the line in portland, tennessee on the independence line. hi, mitch. i represent a little organization, about 7 million of us, america first. we are not republic rats, we are not demo can. ts, we are not demo licans. problem in this nation as a division. we constitute everything from the united states military, federal judges, and we are not mexicans. we are not africans. we're americans. if everybody out there can come to the realization, get on the team, there is no i in team, and we become one as far as constitutionalize law and order , we believe in th