somebody like jasmine, multiply her times a billion, a billion people are how many people have been lifted out of poverty over the last 20 years according to recent reports from "the economist," based on world data. they're looking at the lowest levels of poverty. a billion people have been lifted out of party largely due to more international trade, war globalization, and more economic freedom. we have globally the highest levels of economic freedom in history. a long way to go, but we need to make progress. world trade barriers have fallen by half, and trade volume has doubled. those are the kinds of things we need to adopt in united states to lift another billion people out of poverty over the next 20 years.

we have plenty of time for questions. i will leave it to you. [applause] >> bryan? >> i believe we have people with microphones on both sides -- yeah, we do. over here and over here. if you have a question or a comment, just raise your hand. if you could identify yourself, that would be very helpful. who wants to go first? >> thank you. in the beginning when senator demint and senator rand paul talked about rule of law issues and capitalism and the breakdown of the rule of law in our country, coming from apparently not just the administration, but elsewhere, this seems to be a cancer on our

system. and for the economic situation to really improve in our country, it seems to me that rule of law needs to be enhanced and is constantly being eroded by incessant executive orders and regulations coming from the bureaucrats. could you address that, please? >> i will start us off on that. it is an incredibly important issue. in economy, we need to have confidence that we are part of a system that is fair and impartial. i think that is reflected in the index. we have got a score for rule of law right in here. one of most important is private property rights, things that do not exist in places like north korea. we have seen that even in the communist world, when china did modernization there, it enhanced their freedom as well.

in the united states we are not in danger of the mass confiscation of property, but every little but of our rule of law that has eroded is an incredible threat, and you see it in things like bailouts. even just the perception, when you have companies that are well connected that get treated specially, for example, when you think of the automakers and so forth. you think of someone here at heritage writing about the bailout of the auto companies and the workers in michigan that were left out. why? there is not a good or impartial reason for that. they did not have the political strength. any time you have to jockey for political strength in order to protect your business or to grow your business, look at lobbying in the nation's capital. a huge growth industry. there is a reason why seven of the richest counties in the country are in the washington, d.c., area. everything is booming, and that

is something that long term is not going to be healthy for our country. >> normally when we talk about what is happening with the rule of law and the executive orders and some of the breaking of the rules and precedents that we saw, like in the senate, the recess appointments controversy that will go to the supreme court, when we talk about the rule of law, i think we rightly do talk about the law and we rightly talk about the constitution, because that is where we should talk about. but there is a political and cultural background. maybe it is noise, maybe this music. the political culture is changing over the last 5-6 years and we need to be mindful. broadly speaking, the idea that

the end justifies the means. if there was a short-term political gain that can be had, even if it is changing long-term precedent and senate rules, it is considered to be acceptable. it is happening from the liberal side of the spectrum. mindseta change in the that perhaps is not ideologically so much a change. is and how it it is being accepted as normal. therefore, when we try to raise a question about it, it is, that is yesterday's news. crossed thatdy boundary. so let's see what the next one is that we have to cross. the next thing you know, we have crossed 10-15 boundaries and the political culture has changed in the process. >> next.

over here. hi. my question is that do you think that policies that serve low interest rates, asset purchases, expansion of the monetary base are hampering economic freedom and the financial markets? quite -- can you repeat the question? >> you are asking of the federal reserve policies of perpetual low interest rates and buying back row grahams, quantitative easing and whatnot, what kind of a threat is set to our economic freedom? we are in the midst of an experiment in the united states that we have never seen before. this is uncharted territory. the $4 trillion of asset

purchases by the fed. $1 trillion of treasury bills. $2 trillion of mortgages. issue of thehe rule of law, you have to ask the question, where does the fed have the authority to do these things? it is a very dangerous situation. as everyone in this room knows, it is easy for the fed to print money and to purchase assets. it is not so easy to put the genie back in the bottle. that is what keeps economists up at night right now. whether they will be able to pull this off. i am nervous about it. i think everyone is. one of the principles of economic freedom is a strong and stable currency. that is what you have a currency. if we have a run-up in inflation , that would cut down economic

freedom, inflation is a form of taxation, when you think about worth makes every dollar less. if i knew how this all would turn out, i would be a multimillionaire. nobody knows. it is troubling. but the fed has moved in this incredible -- if you look at the chart of the money creation in the last 15 years. we have never seen anything like this before. i pray that janet yellen can pull this off for the good of our country. addition, we have got to make it more attractive to invest in the united states. we have low interest rates, but the lack of investment seems to be there. that means you have got to of confidence in the rule of law, confidence and tax rates -- if you are a medical company right now am a pharmaceutical company,

if you are owning hospitals -- how are you going to plan when the rules in obamacare keep changing month by month? hard to plan and hard to invest. we need to fix those factors. >> let me mention one quick thing. what we really want from our monetary authorities is rules. what are the roles? so not everybody is trying to guess what the fed is trying to do next. ,f there were clear-cut rules then all of this guesswork -- you create an environment of certainty and that leads to more investment. here.'s go back over i have a question with regard to the regional findings. georgiaioned that in

economic freedom was advancing and at the same time there is a mention in the report that georgia is suffering from developments and economic freedom was in danger. what are your thoughts on this? and on the region in general? when you talk about the eurasian region in general, you do mean russia. itself, as you were talking, i was looking up on our sheet here -- it is very have trendsthat you going in opposite directions, as you can see from the score. investmenthand, policies and banking regulations are improving. the property rights are dropping significantly. drop diageo you see

property rights, you see problems with the rule of law. -- evenrbitrarily though that is the case, georgia is doing quite well and labor freedom is doing well. they're ranked 11th in the region even though they are 92 and the world. what about russia? rather than get into details -- russia is clearly trying to do an experiment of having an authoritarian style capitalism. it is highly regulated and controlled by the state through the private and public political control. mainly controlled by the kremlin and the various apparatuses that president putin has to his party. measureery careful to

whether we talk about russia or china -- when you see the smirk until a stick or top-down -- down, youistic or top- can get spurts in the economy. without that, all of the problems you would see otherwise in a mostly free economy in russia would come to the fore. collapseributed to the of the soviet union in the late 1980's. the poor system with the inefficiencies caught up with them. that is not a formula for the future. that is not a formula for success. they seem to get by on what is happening with energy prices. for the life of me see how georgia or any of these

countries would see how that is a model to follow. how it is based upon energy resources. didne thing georgia specifically was they opened their economy to investment and trade. a lot of companies like to maintain high trade barriers as a tool with which to negotiate with other countries and try to negotiate them down. said, if we lower our trade barriers, we will have more access to raw materials. that has been beneficial. >> looks good to the middle. -- let's go to the middle. you mentioned that russia is not a model to follow. countries like georgia and macedonia in the middle. the european union is the regulation producing body to

rival the united states. model, as well , normallydish model sweden is not considered to be that kind of model -- one of the ways they do this is they would in certainow scores categories of the economy. -- have rowe very business.-- pro- the bargain they are making -- you mentioned the goose that lays the golden bag -- -- egg -- so that we can have really high

taxes to fund a welfare state. , in theke a treadmill sense that at some point, you have the economy working against one another. imagine how well it would work if you did not have these opposite pressures? that is the lesson. the europeans do some things really well. in other areas, they do not. thing about europe, that they have done over the last 15 years, most of the european countries have cut the corporate tax rate as a way to attract capital. it has been fairly effective. mean economist, if you ask what is the one no-brainer thing to increase economic freedom and make america a more attractive place?

brainer thatlete no- we could cut our corporate tax rate to the international average. if we cut our corporate tax rate , you get so much more capital that you would not lose revenue. let me put it like this. corporaterica's income tax system a head start program for every other country we compete with. other putting every country at a 10% advantage. with that increase, if we got that rate down -- that would absolutely increase our economic freedom. >> let's go back over there. mentioned the u.k. falling down the list. positively ourselves free market.

why and what has gone wrong and what needs to change? i want to say that i had the opportunity to visit london for the first time this summer. hadeting that representatives from different countries around the you. -- eu. happened when representatives visit us. if they're from the government, the talk about what a great job they're doing and how hard we are on them and how they will be implementing all of these great proposals and we need to rank them higher. if their prom the private sector , you have no idea how bad things are. [laughter] that is true almost regardless of where you come from. and the u.k., lots of discussion with respect to the potential costs and benefits of the eu.

the free-trade aspect has been beneficial. the costs have been harmful. that is something we are following closely in the united states. as we look at a bigger agreement with the eu. we may have some lessons to learn from the u.k.'s experience. >> even though the score dropped, it dropped in very small measure. the u.k. still has a very high- ranking for 2014 in the world. trying to capture these differences becomes quite marginal sometimes. looking at the score, there was a slight downturn in freedom from corruption and in business freedom. overall, the two categories for the u.k. scores the worst taxes and are in deference spending. >> let's go back over here. can we talk about south and

central america and what is working and not working in the region? in columbiaspecify and venezuela. two clear differences. the chilean approach -- to embrace market economies, not just through conservative governments, but through more left-wing governments. chile maintains the market policies. venezuela has moved in the opposite direction. one reason that we produce the index is that countries will look at what works. the hope is that people look at chile and a country like

columbia will say, let's move in that direction. andink people in venezuela the united states and colombia, we all want the same things. we want better lives for our kids, good educations, great health care systems. the question is how do you get there? countries like colombia and mexico are moving in the direction of chile. other countries are moving in the direction of cuba and that has not worked out so well. general, after 20 years of doing the index, we have accumulated a lot of data, a lot of trends. we have had economists look at the data and do congressional analysis -- aggressional analysis. capital growth, other ways of measuring economic growth over time. showed thes of

statistical correlation between economic growth over time and the index scores is extremely high. in termsost like 98% of the correlation. indices thater come up with similar results, even though the methodology is somewhat different in the details. i would think we are on to something here. it is not just a matter of opinion. there is something going on in the behavior of people that we should pay attention to if we want to see economies grow over time. yes, ma'am. you mentioned that the washington consensus -- with the

-- theodel be something new chinese government pledged that they will give the country more freedom. do you think that china will enjoy more freedom in economic terms in the future? whether hong kong's success has something to do with china? >> the short answer to the last question is no. matter of fact, they were scoring number one before. the reason why the continued to score as they maintained the system they had before. there is also a lesson there. china is 137 ranked. regionally it is 29. it score has remained remarkably unchanged over the 20 years, at

least externally. internally, there have been some changes. they probably account for the economic dynamism. trade freedom has improved by over 50 points. trade freedom. that shows that in some area they are liberalizing. rapid rights, control of government spending -- the numbers went in the other direction. these 10 factors, you can see how economies matchup. bag. is basically a mixed overall, where they seemed to be getting worse is freedom from corruption. when you follow the stories in china, that is not a big surprise. they are doing much better in investment freedom and better in monetary and business freedom.

to answer your first question, is this a model? i don't think a mixed bag as the model. i think submit -- real thing as the model. that is what the data really shows. if you want to do it right, do it right. historically, china has got unique factors going on that i think would be hard to replicate , even culturally and politically, as a model for others. evennot necessarily mentioning them having the idea of democracy. it is also the political culture of china and the one-party state and the authoritarian political culture -- not something that seems to me to be in favor of freedom or the future for the rest of the people who want to enjoy more freedom. economic and political. any others? >> thank you.

i'm just a private citizen. it seems to me that it is the increased economic freedom is the tide that lifts up everyone. why is there still such a wide perception that these are byative policies mean-spirited people who only want to help rich people, stepping over the backs of the poor, and how do we shift that to say that we really are interested in helping people and these policies are what can achieve that? how do we change that perception? >> think it was teddy roosevelt that first set it. he said that people don't care how much you know until the know-how much you care. that has to be more part of the conservative lexicon. i mentioned that. it is not because we love freedom because it works out for

us personally, we also love freedom because it works out best for the most people. i thought the brian beautifully talked about the benefits of free trade. that is true inside borders as well. when you have two free parties that are able to come to an agreement on their own, they come away better off. you multiply that trillions of times, you have a free economy where people are better off, where people can invent new products. the opposite of that is cronyism. you see that in communist countries. other forms of government as well, where you have a small group of people -- where a free economy probably would not work but are for them. monopoly, an a oligarchy, it works out better for that tag group of people him and not for everyone. i think the same thing as true on the domestic side.

as conservatives, we need to be clear when people who are normally our friends are drifting off course. i mentioned the farm bill -- a subsidy for a farmer who makes more than $200,000 per year asked what kind of sense does that make? of beingtter consistent in our message and starting with the fact that we do want to help people improve their own lives. >> this was the point i was trying to make. , as conservatives, and the quality of opportunity, not in the equality of outcomes. we don't do as well as we should in terms of equality of opportunity. kids demonstrate the street have to go to these lousy schools -- that is an abomination. there is a lot of work to be done in that regard. if you look at the evidence from the 1980's in 1990's, when we got the policies right, the story was one of mobility.

people moved up. one statistic that i love to use , a poor person who started out in the 1980's, by the mid-1990's , that family was likely to be in the richest category of income than still be poor. that does not happen in a lot of other places. it happens in america all the time. contrast that with the performance and lost five years. we have seen no mobility. all of the gains have gone to people at the very top. middle income are losing income. the poor are really struggling. that has to be the message. how do we increase opportunity for everyone? the fact that bill gates, tiger woods and hannah montana are making all this money -- that does not fall back onto anyone. >> i am barry miller.

we have heard a lot that the fulcrum role is a very confusing way to reintroduce glass- steagall. when you think about the broad dotable of glass-steagall, you think that is a negative thing for the economy or positive thing? >> i'm not an expert on glass- steagall so i will add to this from a more broad point of view. it gets to what the few of you were talking about. the rule of law and that we do not confiscate wealth. the banking area, we have been doing that. but the way federal regulators have been going after the banks. moneylundering them of for not even wrong doing. these banks have surrendered tens of billions of dollars to the federal treasury for activity that is not even illegal. that is one thing that is troubling to me.

that is a very important principle. they do that to the strong-arm thatc of using statutes basically the bank have no other choice but to fork over this money. [indiscernible] >> rate here. -- right here. part of't know if it is your index, but i wanted to know if you could comment -- if you could comment on what effect the educational systems, the size of the middle class, the immigration policies has on the

fact that they are at the top of your index? year, we look at a large number of factors. we are real excited about the offers we have -- authors we have who have contributed. ,f the 10 factors that we rank we don't specifically include those policies. we have had writers who have delved into some of those issues in the past. is thatg that we hope people will be able to use these statistics independently to do research on issues like that. how do educational systems factor into the various outcomes? recall -- >> [indiscernible] one of the interesting things to me is if you look at the

countries who rank i, they have a lot of things in common. sometimes we specifically look at economic freedom. other groups look at different kinds of freedom. how clean the environment is. poverty. it is really easy to do correlations between those two. sometimes it is more difficult to prove causation. does a strong economy will result in a stronger middle class? or vice versa? certainly, we can look at things and any quality and poverty show the more economic freedom has a positive impact in that regard. >> when you look at the top 10, most of them are wealthy countries and most of them have a large and wealthy middle class. this is not something we measure directly. at thelly, if you look

education systems and other policies that are not directly related to economics, as a consequence of wealth over time growing, there is a positive correlation between them. there is a commonsense explanation for that. if an economy over time develops a very wealthy economy and you have a large middle class, there are certainly enough money around to invest in schools and other things. environmental policies, for example, some of the worst environmental policies and worst environmental situations are in the countries where you have the least economic freedom. >> i could take that one. ,f you look at the top six australia, new zealand, and

canada have been moving in immigration policies to a more skill-based approach. they are trying to compete for the breast and brightest around the world. highly educated folks. those three have been held up as models. that would be an interesting place for more research to try to incorporate that to see if there's a connection there. ringing in the best and brightest immigrants is something that those three particularly do well. the united states brings in more with a cleargally path to full citizenship than the rest of the world combined. the united states is an immigrant loving country as well. these three countries have done -- in some ways, they are leading the way to try to world's phd's,e engineers, and so forth. an interesting correlation. >> we have reached the end of our time. i want to thank the panelists

for the presentations and responded to questions. thank you. thank you all for being here today. for your excellent questions and comments. they were right on the mark. i hope to be able to see all of you here again in 2015. [applause]

>> on the next washington journal, republican senator chuck grassley will discuss the $1.1 trillion spending bill announced on monday and the nsa

surveillance programs. we will continue that conversation with representative adam schiff. a member of the house intelligence committee. we will be joined by the senior editor of cq roll call. we will talk about his article on possible compromises in this session of congress. washington journal is live every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. several live events to tell you about on our companion network c-span 3. witnesses will include several former chairman of the communications commission. president obama is in north carolina to talk about the economy and manufacturing. members of the senate foreign relations committee will hear about the political form oil in

ukraine -- turmoil in ukraine. >> i think i just a little antennas. when somebody had their own onnie's.nd not rn and then i would tell him. he may not agree with me, but i would tell them. >> watch our program on first lady nancy reagan on our website, c-span.org. or see it on c-span at 7:00 p.m. eastern. our series continues on monday as we look at barbara bush. senators voted twice on tuesday on proposals that would have led to a revival of emergency unemployment benefits. it did not get the 60 votes needed to move ahead.

party leaders spoke with reporters before the votes. we hope we can get back into a regular order. this bill that we are going to vote on in the next few days is imperfect but very good.

it will move us away from the cycle of governing that has gripped this community for a long time. we will bring that bill to the floor -- we hope to get it from the republicans as early as wednesday as possible. hopefully before midnight so we can have a vote on friday. long, good a discussion in the caucus today about unemployment insurance. i have talked to senator collins. just finished a good conversation with her. she is really someone who tries to get things done and i admire her and appreciate her very much . the conversation will continue this afternoon. will have a consent agreement to present to the senate. that she hase sure a chance to go over the proposal with the republicans.

i will not go into all of the detail. there will be amendments on each side. there will have to be a few other things and i will lay that out in the consent agreement. i think that the really good news is that we are going to start having more amendments. know, thew or may not caucus -- they understand starty that when people talking endlessly about process, write op-ed's about process, and on the other side you have 1.4 million people who are desperate , desperate for some help -- what are the wins? orit the process argument trying to help 1.4 million people? it is the one point 4 million people. we will continue our conversations this afternoon.

we need to remember the urgency of this matter. we have lots and lots of people who are desperate for help. i have gone over a number of those on the floor today. and in days past. it becomes so stark when you understand that out of the 300 richest people in the world, we have 67 of them in america. last year, though 67 made an average of $2 billion to add to their wealth. pretty stunning. we're doing everything we can to help the unemployed, which is an emergency. we have done this on an emergency basis, which we should do. in the future, we are going to have amendments. we're going to do that. my caucus supports that. we want to have relevant amendments.

i think that is only fair. we hope, from my republican colleagues, that that is something that should be fair and i think that the consent agreements i will offer will include that. this debate is not about amendments or complaint over senate procedure, this is about 1.4 million desperate americans who, through no fault of their own, need the help of the federal government. -- we reallyhere need to do it for longer than three months. there are some states that are still using an old program called cobalt. proposed new bills that we have suggested. it would take the better part of three months just to get the rules in order. questions?

>> why do you want longer than three months when the initial bill that you try to get was only three months? because our three months was unpaid for to give us time during the three-month period to come up with something that would satisfy the republicans. >> are you confident that republicans will agree to an up or down vote for a final vote? >> they should. came to me on the way out of the meeting. he said, i have not been in the senate for a long time. he was a staffer many years ago. he said, i was on the budget committee. there was amendment after amendment. i raise the question, does that mean you're going to vote for the bill? no. so we will see. >> a trade bill. have you committed to him to

take more time on that? >> no. no. no. there is a lot of controversy on that and i will see how that plays out on that. >> we know that the president has asked to hold off on the iran sanctions. given the recent news and president rouhani treat -- tweeting that the west has surrendered, what are the plans for bringing the bill to the floor? message that the iranians should have is that we are not going to allow them to have nuclear weapons. while this process is playing out in the negotiations are going on in switzerland, the keep changing the place, while they are going on and while the legislative process is working forward, i am going to sit and be as fair as i can be. >> on the unemployment

insurance, the agreement that you mentioned, would that include other tenants of what the republicans have proposed? >> i don't know all of their five amendments. i know that the ones i am familiar with -- one would be to change drastically the child tax credit. the other one that is offered by ,enator portman is to really really do significant damage to people who are handicapped. we tried to modify that. to lower it from $5.6 -- $5.6 billion to $1 billion, but we can't get the workshops that we have from las vegas and elsewhere. people who are really handicapped work for money. opinion,tage, in my

both amendments are really bad. we can work something out. >> following on the question , can you give us some idea of your metric? you're thinking? at what point will you but the sanctions? >> i think at this stage we are where we should be. there are 10 senators, chairman of committee here, who did not want anything done. senatorsore than 55 who are sponsoring this. we will wait to see how this plays out. >> i am tired of the side of the room. [laughter] but go over here. >> on amendments. >> i'm tired of you. [laughter] >> on the amendments come are these going to be 60 vote threshold? have you worked this much out? >> yes.

that is going to be our offer. because, quoting my friend the republican leader, that is what we do around here. >> are you concerned that any republican amendments [indiscernible] we will have our own amendment. if you're going to have amendments of irrelevant nature, you both have to take a chance. the school shooting at an elementary school -- >> i'm sorry -- >> is there any movement behind the scenes at all, anything that anyone can point to that you might be up to do anything about it? >> if someone can show me anything that the republicans in the senate, republicans in the

house, but especially in the senate, i agree with the american people on these issues, not the least of which is having a background check on guns, 90% of the american people believe that is the right thing to do. until the republicans in the senate say, maybe the american people are right, maybe the 10% are wrong in the 90% are right -- they are siding with the 10%. until there is some movement, it is a jester in futility. -- gesture in futility. >> will the seven effect on the midterm elections? >> there is a lot of work being tried to do that. if there is anything i can do to thatthat it is so foolish the republicans do not agree with 90% of the american people, pick any state you want -- it is really unfortunate. i hope to have some bearing on

the midterm elections. >> good afternoon, everyone. proposalrstand it, the the majority leader has for going forward on an extremely important issue of unemployment insurance, a matter of great seriousness and concern to the american people, particularly in the obama economy, strikes me as fundamentally unfair. ist he is offering to us that every one of our amendments would have to get 60 votes -- there were only 45 of us -- and then final passage would be at

51 and then there would be no budget points of order allowed. have madetion that we some progress toward getting back to normal here at the end of the year, at the end of last week, has been wiped out by the reality of what the offer is. i would be very surprised if my membership thought that that was fair. and number of you have been around here long enough to remember when we called up the bill, we had a serious amendment process, and the majority prevailed. i had hoped, after the discussion of all of this last week, that we would begin to move back in that direction. i have a number of members to feel the unemployment insurance issue is a serious matter that ought to be addressed. but addressed in a fair and bipartisan way with the majority deciding what kind of bill passes. this is a procedure that obviously cannot get us to that place. let me also say that we know

that there is a bipartisan majority for a new iran sanctions bill but senator kerr and chairman menendez -- a majority that quite possibly could overturn a veto and we believe that we ought to have that vote. we will continue to press the majority leader to allow a vote on an issue that enjoys the support of a very large bipartisan majority here in the senate. >> yesterday brought more bad news on the obamacare exchanges with a paltry number of young and healthy people signing up for obamacare and most of the people who did sign up where the older and more ill. skewing the exchange balance of pooling arrangements such that it is likely to lead to more obamacare rice shock in the

future -- price shock in the future. congressman lee terry is a good proposal that the house will vote on shortly to provide regular, weekly reports of the number of people who have signed up for the exchanges successfully and for medicaid as well. the administration has amazingly said that they would veto that, citing cost is a reason, even though the congressional budget office said that the cost would be precisely zero. have the self-professed most transparent administration in american history blocking this information that comes at a zero price tag, while tending -- spending tens of millions of tax dollars to promote obamacare, when obamacare continues to be enormously unpopular and simply will not work. the name of the game around washington these days with the

democrats seems to be distractions. after the bill that they nowpioned passed and people are starting to feel its effects, you see the democrats running farther and farther away from it. who can blame them? what people are looking on right now is canceled policies, higher choiceswer jobs, fewer -- i think it is a function of really the broader obama economic agenda, higher taxes, more regulations, fewer jobs to the american people, lower take- home pay. the jobs numbers bear that out. was theh of december worst jobs performance in three years. the labor participation rate is the lowest level since jimmy carter possibly the straight and. -- administration. the bad news continues to pile up. we think it is time that the

democrats work with us to quit trying to treat the symptoms of the problem and try to fix the problem. that is these policies that are doing great harm to the american economy and costing american workers jobs and a lower standard of living. tomorrow, president obama is heading to north carolina -- north carolina state university -- should talk to a number of students. he was there -- they're moving into a smaller venue for his visit tomorrow. i hear that the democrat senator who is running for reelection in north carolina conveniently will not be able to be there to stand with the president of her own party. the president needs to give the students there an explanation. their patience is running thin. they are tired of excuses.

we sell the job numbers that came out on friday. we are heading toward a part- time economy in this country. we do the numbers yesterday on the health care law, or fewer and fewer young people have leading, most likely, to increased insurance costs to others to do get their insurance through the exchanges. but think the president needs to explain to the american people what went wrong with these policies. they want to have jobs, careers, affordable health care. i think they're tired of excuses. >> on the health care front, i think the interesting thing watching this debate for those of us who have had concerns about this bill and did not think it would work from the very start is, now what happens as each new fact comes forward? just a few days ago, the white house spokesman said, when asked about why more people were not sending up, he said, it is not

how many people sign up -- that is not as important as the mix of people who are signing up. that is right. if insurance is going to work, you have to have the proper balance. the balance is not there. people under 35, the people who need to sign up, they are not signing up for a couple of reasons. the rates they are looking at are higher than rates the people in that age group have ever .ooked at before secondly, you have told the same group of people, if you ever get sick, you can get insurance when you get sick. in our state, it is not the 40% that the white house said was 25%number needed -- it was of a much smaller number. we are seeing that happen everywhere. no matter what the supporters of this has said in advance, the

than have been different the facts they said would be the facts we would be looking at. none of the funds appropriated by this tax may be obligated or expended to implement the arms trade treaty until the senate approves a resolution of ratification of the treaty. one of the provisions is that. time and time again we have told this administration, we have told this president, that he should not negotiate, that he should not agree to, and that he should not agree -- expect the senate to ratify an arms trade treaty negotiated with the united nations. one might expect the president to pay little or no attention to democratic senators. but more than 50 senators by letter and by vote of told the president not to negotiate an arms trade treaty and not to

negotiate -- expect the senate to ratify it. we have little faith that this administration will not try to implement an arms trade treaty in the absence of ratification. takes thisation issue one step further, indicating that nobody -- no money can be spent to implement the arms trade treaty until it is ratified by the united states senate. dollars and eight for sandy relief. governor christie used a portion of that to run ads -- do you think that was an appropriate use of funds? >> i was having a hard time hearing you. >> governor christie used money for sandy relief aid to do ads with his family -- do you think it was an appropriate use of funds? that verynot follow

closely. i think you would have to ask those who have. you are rejecting senator reed's latest offer, then what? >> >> i hope you guys are beginning to get a picture of who is responsible for dysfunction a senate, and we have supposedly been on unemployment insurance, a very significant issue in a country at a time of very high unemployment. there has not been a single amendment voted on. we have been on it for a week. the majority leader has used the techniques available to the one individual and the senate that the right of first record ocean to prevent not only -- first recognition to reread not only our members but his numbers from getting an amendment. the senate cannot work that way. later withare a week honestly ats and

ridiculous offer that he knows we cannot possibly accept, which is that all of our amendments are at 60, final passage is that and expects you all to buy it. that we are the problem. this is utterly absurd. what is wrong with having votes? the system majority leader used to say come i guess he is not saying it much anymore, that if you don't want to become -- if you don't want to fight fires, to become a firefighters committed to do not want to cast votes, do not come to the senate. we are not casting any votes. republican recall votes since last july. four. in spite of all the discussion

we had last week about the way the place has been operated, it appears that it will not change in the next 24 hours. >> are you willing to make a deal that would be less ridiculous? towe were perfectly prepared suggest to our side, even though it would have required a number of members who wanted to offer amendments to stand down, i was prepared to recommend that we take five amendments on the side , fairly short time agreement, which would have accommodated the majority leader's desire to finish this note by tomorrow. -- i couldt going to not sell, even if i thought it was appropriate, i could not sell to my members something crafted like this that guaranteed we had no real chance. been truthful in the past when we call the bills amendment -- h

both an amendment and whoever got the most votes won. it is to disenfranchise the people that i and my members represent and more significantly a significant number of the people that his members represent. whose voices are simply not heard in the senate. >> do think senator reid is making a good-faith effort to pass this u.i. bill? >> of course not. an amendmentre as off-limits? to pick our own amendment, and i can tell you, talking to my members, most of the amendments are certainly related to the subject matter. , the minorityking prefers to have a wide-open open amendment process, but we understand that a, this is an

important issue, b, we have an omnibus coming over, i thought five amendments on the side for a short time agreement was something i could probably sell to my amendment -- my members. and say to those who cannot get any five let's do it another day, but i could not recommend it. i know my members would not accept something like this that is guaranteed to fail. >> do you think the omnibus agreement will come in and out of here smoothly. ? do you see anything -- >> my assumption is it will pass. there will be one cloture vote. i am confident the majority leader will not have an open for amendments, and you'd have to talk to members of the appropriations committee, but my understanding is an number of them intend to vote for the

bill. >> and friday -- >> that would depend if people would rather do it on friday or saturday, and you know how that generally works around here. thank you a lot. >> on the next "washington journal," republican senator chuck grassley of iowa, a member of the do this. budget committees, will discuss the $1.1 trillion spending bill announced on monday and the nsa surveillance programs. we will continue our look at nsa data collection with representative adam schiff of california, who is a member of the house intelligence committee. and we will be joined by adriel bettelheim, senior editor of "cq roll call," as part of our ongoing spotlight on the matter -- on magazine series. "washington journal" is live on c-span every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern.

several live events to tell you about today on our opinion network, c-span3. the house energy and commerce subcommittee hold a meeting at 10:00 a.m. eastern. witnesses include the chairman of the federal trade communication. after 1:00 p.m., president obama is in north carolina to talk about the economy and manufacturing. 2:00 eastern, members of the senate foreign relations committee will hear from state department officials about political turmoil in the ukraine. >> as the president for stated in march and we emphasized tuesday night, the goal of the united states and afghanistan and pakistan is to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al qaeda and its extremist allies. and to prevent its return to both countries. the international military effort to stabilize afghanistan is necessary to achieve this

overarching goal. >> robert gates and served two presidents as defense secretary from 2006 2 2011 and cia director in the early 1990's. 6:30 p.m. eastern on book tv, secretary gates talks about his relationship with the white house and congress. in a few weeks, look for women's history for beginning author bonnie morris live on in-depth, february 2 at noon eastern. online for the rest of january, join our book tv book club levin'sion on marck "the liberty amendments." >> now, new jersey governor chris christie's estate of the state address. he spoke yesterday for little less than an hour. [applause]

>> thank you. thank you. thank you very much. thank you very much. thank you. thank you.

thank you very much. happy new year. lieutenant governor. mr. speaker, congratulations. mr. president. members of the state legislature. friends and fellow new jerseyans. the last week has certainly tested this administration. mistakes were clearly made. and as a result, we let down the people we're entrusted to serve. i know our citizens deserve better. much better. i'm the governor. and i'm ultimately responsible for all that happens on my watch, both good and bad. without a doubt, we will cooperate with all appropriate inquiries to ensure that this breach of trust does not happen again. but i also want to assure the people of new jersey today that

what has occurred does not define us or our state. this administration and this legislature, will not allow the work that needs to be done to improve the people's lives in new jersey to be delayed for any reason. [applause] i am the leader of this state and its people. and i stand here today proud to be both.

[applause] but also those of you who know me know that i'm always, always determined to do better. so now, i come before you once again, for my fourth time, to report to you on the state of our state. and the good news is that today, the state of our state is good and it is getting better. [applause] remember that four years ago we were in the throes of an economic crisis. today our unemployment rate is 7.8%, the lowest in five years. [applause] four years ago, we were losing jobs.

today, we have gained 70,000 jobs in 2013 alone. and a total of 156,000 in the last four years. four years ago, wealth and jobs were leaving the state. today, personal income for new jerseyans is at an all-time high and we're attracting new companies, and that has brought jobs. we now have four straight years of private sector job growth. in fact, in november, the drop in our unemployment rate was the largest one-month drop ever measured and in the last year, new jersey had the second largest drop in its unemployment rate in america only behind the state of north carolina. and we could have chosen to go down a path of continued tax

increases and fund the state's addiction to spending but we didn't. we held the line against any new taxes and brought spending to a level below fiscal year 2008, six years ago. we could have let state government grow even while the private sector shrank but we didn't. today, there are 6,000 fewer state employees than when i took office four years ago. but, there are more than 155,000 new private sector employees. we've improved our business climate. and today by every measure, business confidence in new jersey is up. in fact, one national magazine ranked new jersey among the top five states with the most improved business climates in america.

it's no accident how we got to this place today, no accident at all. we chose, we chose the way. in this new year and the next four years, we need to build on this momentum by creating a new attitude. we need to create an attitude of choice. attitude of choice is not about choosing everything. it's not about saying yes to everyone. it is about us setting our priorities and choosing to invest in new jersey where it matters. and to put in place the reforms and reductions that will make that possible. and the best part of our turnarounds in these last four years is because we have chosen

to work together. take a moment. these are our achievements. four balanced budgets, passed with bipartisan support. pension reform. passed with bipartisan support. teacher tenure reform, passed with bipartisan support. a cap on property taxes, passed with bipartisan support. we acted and we acted together. even though the competition among states is fierce, the record on this is clear. no state in this country has shown more bipartisan cooperation and governance over the last four years than new jersey and our people are proud of it.

let's resolve today that we will continue to put those people who are proud of us now, that we'll put them first. that we'll choose to do our jobs. one of the things that we know historically has driven people out of new jersey is high property taxes. in 2010, together we capped them and the 2% cap has worked. in these past two years has been -- years, property tax growth has been the low nest two decades, but the job is far from finished. property taxes are still too high and today i ask for you to join me in enacting a new property tax relief initiative that tackles the root causes that are driving up property taxes in the first place. but first, let's get some context. the 2% cap we've already enacted has worked for a reason. the reason it's worked is because we've done it by controlling costs.

we accompanied it with reform of an interest arbitration award system that we knew needed fixing. as you know, the interest arbitration cap was not permanent. it is set to expire this april unless we act. so i ask you today, on both sides of the aisle, let us renew the cap on interest arbitration awards that is working and let's make that cap permanent before the deadline in april. another reason property taxes are so high is that our cities and towns are stuck a series of costly state rules that increase the cost of local government. as the cost of government grows, taxpayers, property taxpayers, are paying the price. now, we've worked with the senate to try to pass real

consolidation and civil service, shared services reform. we haven't yet got it done in the assembly. we need to have an effort that includes everyone responsible for property taxes. the senate, the assembly. our administration and local governments to provide them with the authority to run their governments like a business. to consolidate, to share services, to cut duplication and ultimately to reduce property taxes. don't think it's possible? let's look at what happened last year in princeton. now princeton borough, princeton township talked about this for a long time. but finally they consolidated into a single government. no two tax departments, no two police departments answering the phone. the savings in one year, $3 million. that's on a budget of $64 million. that's a 4.7% savings.

the citizens of princeton got this in return. more services, despite a smaller budget, and imagine this. a reduction in their municipal taxes. now that's not just an opinion. the local unit alignment reorganization and consolidation commission, and if you think that's easy to say, let me try one more time -- no, i'm not going to do it. they said the civil service seniority rules were at the top of the list of barriers to shared services. so let's help our towns clear away arcane rules that stand between them and lower property taxes. now when it comes to driving costs, let's not forget, i can't imagine you could, the expensive practice of six figure sick leave payouts for government employees. sick time should be used when you're sick, and if you are lucky enough to be healthy, that

should be your reward. sick leave has been abused too many times and the cost is real. almost a billion dollars in liability facing new jersey towns. $880 million to be exact as we stand here today. and it will only get higher if the system is not fixed. these reforms are commonsense. so let's lift this billion dollar albatross off the necks of new jersey's towns. let's, together, in a bipartisan way, enact the zero means zero plan and stop these payouts in their tracks and the harm it does to our taxpayers.

now our pension system is burdened by some who collect disability retirement because they claim they are totally and permanently disabled, but then they turn around and go back and work full time. this is wrong. and it hurts our system and the people who really deserve the payouts. so first, we've established by executive order a special unit to prosecute pension fraud but we need to go further. so let's go further. we need to solidify our pension system and reduce costs by reforming our disability retirement system to thend fraud and abuse. let me be clear -- we're not talking about taking away benefits that people deserve but if folks are going to abuse the system, it hurts every person who needs the system. when they're really, really injured permanently. not only will this help that

pension system, but it will help to reduce costs and reduce property taxes. now here's one of the open secrets in local government. since the enactment of the 2% property tax cap, some towns get around the cap by enacting user fees to fund traditional services that they use to put in their budget. so let's end this practice. all of you in this room who voted for the cap, did not want the cap to be gone around. so let's not make people's property taxes even more expensive by not enforcing the cap and ending these user fees. now i'll have more to say about new jersey's taxes when i present my budget to you next month. that's for a reason. i've always believed we have to

consider changes to our tax system in the context of our overall budget picture. so we'll be back to you in february and present some choices regarding taxes. but let me tell you one choice we will not make, because it is one answer that will not help grow jobs in our state. and that's raising taxes. you see, if the evidence is clear that increasing taxes hurts job growth, it's equally clear, equally clear that we need to stand up and not allow the tax burden on the citizens of new jersey to get larger. we need to make it smaller. now if it's clear that property tax and other tax increases hurt

our growth, it is equally clear that improving our educational system is a key to improving our growth. together again we've made great progress in these last few years. a record amount of school aid, long overdue reform of our system of teacher tenure. an increase in the number of charter schools, and an urban hope act bringing renaissance schedules to some of our most challenged cities. some of the results were seen already are really promising. last year, new jersey's high school graduation rate increased by a full percentage point to 87.5%. student achievement is strong in many of our public schools and new jersey students are among the country's greatest achievers. just a few years ago, a graduate on my own high school, livingston high school, won the nobel prize in chemistry. we're making a huge investment in public education.

new jersey spent over $20 billion a year all told. our per pupil expenditure is the highest in the nation at over $17,000 per year. now in some cases, i believe in too many, our children are not receiving the education they deserve. though our public schools are strong, too many are still failing. while the vast majority of teachers are performing well, some are underperforming and they should be removed from our children's classrooms. the need to be better is particularly acute in new jersey cities. our urban schools demand our attention and they have mine. where bold action has been necessary we have taken bold action.

in our largest school system in newark, we brought new resources not only in the farm of state aid but in collaboration with parents, teachers and community leaders on the ground in newark. one result, we negotiated historic contract with the teachers' union and delivered real per rate pay alongside increased teacher involvement in the process. we want to listen to the needs of urban communities. it's why we've empowered those in newark and camden to make choices that work best for their kids, their parents, and their schools. in newark, that superintendent is cami anderson. cami has moved to pay the best teachers more. to stop actions that are failing kids. to empower 50 new principals to create cooperation between the

the public schools and the public charter schools. and to reorganize the school system structure, to put the focus on kids, their schools and their parents first. what are we seeing? some good early developments. early childhood enrollment is increased by more than 1,000 students. in her tenure the graduation rates have increased by 10%. newark is leading the conversation and making sure every kid, those who are behind, those who are ahead, and those who have special education needs are lifted up. under cami anderson, every kid means every kid. now her efforts haven't always been met without skepticism, but she is a true partner with newark and cares about that city and its public schools. cami is here with us today. cami, i'd like you to stand up so we can thank you for your commitment to the kids in our largest city.

how bad has it been in camden? how about this. last year, only three students graduated college ready. i want you to listen to that again. in the entire public school system in camden, last year, only three students graduated college ready. that is obscene. and unacceptable. and a breaching of the faith between those families and every level of government responsible for their education.

so what are we doing? we're bringing that same energy that cami anderson is bringing to newark to the camden public schools. what's he done already? he turned around a perennially low-performing charter school which is showing some of the largest economic gains in the state. he's launched a new safe corridors program with mayor dana red which created safe walking routes to and from school for camden's children. and of the 345 students who dropped out last year, he's led the effort to go door to door and he's re-enrolled 50 of those dropouts back in school. i'm proud of what you've done

already, i'm excited about what the future of camden schools will bring under your leadership and the leadership of local officials there, and i'd like you to stand up to let us thank you for your effort and dedication. now both cami and paman have my confidence and support than -- and this administration's confidence and support to continue aggressive reforms needed for newark and camden. cami and paman are emblems of my commitment to ensuring the opportunity for an excellent education to every child in new jersey, regardless of their zip code. despite the improvements in newark and camden, we need to take bigger and broader steps to

address our k to 12 education approach, to address the new competitive world we live in. let's face it. if my children are living under the same school calendar that i lived under, by definition that school calendar is antiquated. educationally and culturally for the world we live in. life in 2014 is much different than life 100 years ago. it demands something more for our students. it is time to lengthen both the school day and the school year in new jersey.

this is not just my idea. i look forward to working in a bipartisan way to get this done. if student achievement is lagging at the exact moment we need improvement more than ever in order to compete in a world economy, we should take these steps, every possible step, one key step is to lengthen the school day and school year. these children need more time in school. some of them to catch up. some of them to excel more. so working with commissioner serf, i'll present to you a proposal to increase the lept of length of the school day

and the school year in new jersey. i believe that this is a key step to improve student outcomes and boost our competitiveness. we shouldn't wait. we should do it now. because every day we waste, our children will never, ever get back. as parents, as grandparentings, as aunts and uncles, we should not stand for it. and under this administration, we won't. now, many of our new initiatives recognize a core feature of modern american life, that the quality of education and the quality of life in our communities are inextricably intertwined. that's why this year we need to be more aggressive and bolder in fixing our failing schools and delivering a choice to those for whom today the only option is a bad option.

a failing school. it's a moral obligation, everybody. we must give every new jersey child a chance to graduate from high school, to be ready for college if they so choose and to prepare for a career. if we fail to meet this obligation we compromise the life of that child. and we hurt the quality of life in our communities, all across new jersey. so failure is not an option for us. if education, though, is one key to the quality of life in new jersey, our approach to save streets and stronger communities is another. every new jerseyan should be concerned when violent crimes occur right before our eyes. last month, a young lawyer went to open the door of his vehicle for his wife after an evening of pre-christmas shopping. he was set upon by thugs. who wanted to carjack his suv. and in front of his wife, he was

shot in the head and left for dead on the deck of a mall parking garage. now, outstanding police work led to four arrests and the suspects are now charged with murder. all four had prior criminal records. all four, fortunately, are now in jail. how can we tolerate such violence in our midst? the answer is obvious -- we cannot. so we must take a new approach to fighting crime in new jersey and prevent tragedies like this from happening. we must do everything we can to swiftly jail those violent criminals who bring additional murder and disruption to innocent victims across our state. we have the tools to do this, some of which we've begun and some of which we've not. i believe 2014 must be the year we finish the job. so what have we not finished? almost two years ago, i

announced a proposed constitutional amendment to modify the right to bail in new jersey. the concept is simple. new jersey courts should have the right to keep dangerous criminals off the streets and in jail until trial. why is this important? a study by the federal government's justice department found that one third of the defendants released before trial ended up being charged with some type of pretrial misconduct. one sixth were arrested for new offense, and half of those were felonies -- while they were out on bail. the federal government allowed the violent criminal who is a -- is adjudged by the court to be a danger to the community, to be held without bail. new jersey law does not. this must change. how can we justify any longer

exposing our citizens to the risk of violent crime at the hands of those already in custody who a court determines are predisposed to committed again -- let us mirror the federal law. let is pass bail reform in 2014. we've had some successes in the last few years, we made progress in reducing crime in new jersey. over the past decade, violent crime is down 16% both across new jersey and in our 15 largest urban centers. and the state's prison population is down 20% since 1999. but we can do better and we must.

those 15 urban centers still account for more than half of all the violent crime in new jersey despite representing only 18% of the state's population. now for too long, camden has been one of the most dangerous cities in new jersey and in america. the ability to put police on the street was constrained by tight budgets, low morale, and an absentee rate that sometimes reached 30% in a day. under an agreement that this administration signed with the city of camden and the county of camden, we have regionalized the police force. a police force that was slightly more than 200. is now being beefed up to 400 county police officers patroling the city of camden in the metro division. last year the homicide rate was

down and the crime rate was down by over 20%. but we know the battle in camden is far from won. under mayor dana red, police chief scott thompson, and jose cordero who help red deuce crime reduce crime in one area particularly, camden is using a new approach. camden is moving in the right direction. and i agree with senator sweeney that we should have incentives for other communities to adopt the shared services agreements and regionalization agreements that are making more cops on the street possible. more cops on the street means safer communities. to make this happen, we will work with you to reintroduce a shared services and consolidation reform measure in this session of the legislature. i hope we get it done.

we must also reach out a hand of compassion and commonsense to those who engage in nonviolent crime. we must do a better job of reclaiming their lives and putting them back on the road to success and engagement with our society. every human life is precious and no life, no life is disposable. that's why i proposed last year to change our approach to nonviolent drug offenders and to mandate treatment, not imprisonment.

together, together we made this possible. the drug corps program has been a great success. thanks in part to your support in funding both the court and the treatment. and i thank you for passage this past year of the overdose protection act. we should not be pross cuing prosecuting those good samaritans and health professionals trying to help in a life-threatening overdose situation. you know new jersey's approach to reclaiming lives? it's working. right in front of our eyes. recidivism has dropped by 11%, one of the steepest drops in america and new jersey is rightly recognized by national experts as a lead for the strategies among states in reducing the incidence of recidivism. one part of this for me, it's personal. in this room today is a man who was a drug addict at 16 years old. his life was at risk. he was imprisoned. but treatment saved him. he was rehabilitated in our hometown of mendan.

he then went on to graduate from high school, to get a college degree, and ultimately got a law degree and passed the bar exam. i had the privilege of hiring him as a summer intern at the u.s. attorney's office many years ago and working with craig handlen. he's with us now in this chamber. if you need proof that reclaiming a life is possible, that every life is precious and has value, and that no matter what condition you find that life in, that life is salvageable if we reach out and give them the tools they need to help themselves, that proof is in this chamber today. a practicing lawyer who at 16 years old was in jail as a drug

addict. craig, welcome and thank you for making new jersey a better place. because of the years i have known craig, i know personally the passion and strength that

comes from the human desire to make your life better and i believe we can do more to help give people a second chance. that's why today i'm proposing an initiative to expand integrated treatment and employment services for individuals receiving drug treatment services. by providing grant funds in the amount of $500,000 to be managed in part for theship with the nicholson foundation, we'll place individuals in jobs and help improve their retention and we will work directly with treatment provide source they integrate employment services with drug treatment services for drug court participants. research shows that employment during substance abuse training treatment, rather, ensures continued participation in that treatment and gives them sustainable, long-term employment.

so now with this partnership we'll help empower individuals who want and deserve the opportunity to live a life like craig's. a life redeemed and well lived. a year ago this afternoon, our state was in recovery from a challenge not of our own making. superstorm sandy devastated new jersey in the fall of 2012, flooding our homes, turning off our power, and destroying our roads. despite the magnitude and the devastation of the storm, the one thing we've learned in the last year plus, is that sandy could not break our state's spirit. this past summer, most businesses at the shore opened on time. our boardwalks were rebuilt. many of the crowds came back. and schools that had been damaged were reopened.

today about nine months after the first phase of disaster recovery funds started flowing to new jersey, nearly $900 million, more than 2/3 of the funds for housing recovery programs are out the door or in the pipeline. from the begin, the priority for this administration was putting those with the greatest needs at the front of the line. of the nearly half the housing money that's been allocate sod far, 72.9% of that money has been awarded to low and middle income families. and we are proud of that. the bottom line is this. we're a long way from the finish line.

but we are also a long way from where we were one year ago. challenges remain and i will not rest until every person hurt by sandy has their life back to normal. that is my mission. i want to thank the legislature and all new jerseyans for the cooperative, bipartisan, and resilient spirit that you demonstrated in coming back from sandy. let that spirit of sandy be a powerful lesson to all of us that when times are most difficult, cooperation and progress are possible. indeed, i'd tell you, they're necessary. lastly, let me share with you one more hard truth that makes this new attitude of truth i've spoken about today necessary for

new jersey's future. we've discussed so many exciting opportunities for investment in our state both today and in the last number of months, k to 12 education, higher education, crime prevention, drug rehabilitation an job training coming together, increased access to health care, infrastructure investment, lower taxes, job growth, they're all exciting and all of which, done responsibly, could make new jersey an even greater place. but here's the simple truth that everybody in this government knows. we cannot afford to do it. why? large part because of our pension and debt service costs. for fiscal year 2015, the increase in pension and debt service costs could amount, the increase, could amount to as much as nearly $1 billion. that's nearly $1 billion we

can't spend on education, that we can't invest in infrastructure improvement. that we can't use to put cops on the streets to increase access to health care. for those who would advocate higher taxes, remember that the amount raised by that tax would not even cover the increase in our scheduled pension pame for next year. -- payment for next year. and would undoubtedly make us less competitive in this fiercely competitive national job market. that situation, exciting choices to be made but the resources not available to do them, these are the consequences of failing to engage in an attitude of choice. if we continue in an era where we believe we can choose everything, let me suggest that to the you we're choosing nothing.

we need to have the conversation now about further changes to our pension system and about adding further to our state's already burdened debt load. the time to avoid this conversation and avoid these choices is nearly over, everybody. if we do not choose to reduce our soaring pension costs and debt service costs, we will miss the opportunity to improve the lives of every new jersey citizen, not just a select few. i'm ready to engage in those conversations and help, with you, to truly create in this state an honest attitude of choice. the result will be a better, smarter, stronger new jersey. the results from our refusal to make the tough choice, our refusal to choose, will be a weaker new jersey.

our refusal to make the tough choice, our refusal to choose will be a weaker new jersey. and make no mistake about it. if we choose everything, no matter what rhetoric either side of the aisle uses, the only way to continue to pay for this is to burden our middle class with even higher taxes in this state. that is to me, and i believe to all of you, an unacceptable alternative and it is an abandonment of our duty. centuries ago a philosopher wrote -- choice, not chance, determines your destiny. and this remains true for new jersey today. our destiny is not set. it is the product of the choices we make. our future is not set. it too is the product of the choices we make from this day forward. so let us choose wisely. we're sent here to act. let's not fail to act. let's create an attitude of choice. let us choose to invest in

better schools and not in the status quo in which we leave some children behind and put the rest at risk of being swallowed up by a rising tide of mediocrity and failure. let's choose the path of safer streets. let's not leave our families vulnerable to the heartless carjackers who would destroy our quality of life. let us celebrate every life by creating an opportunity for every citizen through an excellent education, a productive job, and a safe and thriving community. in this hour of choice, let us choose a better new jersey. [applause]

you see, this is what we owe our citizens. our children and ourselves. new jersey has long been blessed, really blessed, by an abundance of natural resources and by our extraordinary human talent. in 2014 we've also been blessed by a return to prosperity. let us all choose to make the most of it, and let's choose to do it together. we have succeeded, working together to be an example for

the entire country, to spirited bipartisanship. let us not abandon that course. it is the course to success and happiness for all the people of the state of new jersey. thank you, god bless you and god bless the great state of new jersey. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014]

>> several live of men to tell you about our companion network, c-span3. house energy and commerce subcommittee holds a meeting at 10:00 a.m. eastern, witnesses include the former chairman of the federal trade medication pulls up just after 1:00 p.m., president obama is in north carolina to talk about the economy and manufacturing. later, members of the senate rulers -- senate relations committee will hear about the political turmoil in the ukraine.

>> in a few moments, a look at today's headlines plus your calls live on washington journal . the house returns to session is in :00 eastern for general speeches. legislative this is at noon. today's agenda includes a $1 trillion omnibus spending bill which ones he federal government for the rest of the year. iowa willrassley of discuss the $1 trillion budget bill coming up in the house today. a: 30 eastern, we will continue our look at data collection with adam schiff. by -- the joined senior editor of roll call.

we will talk about his article on possible compromises in the session of congress. washington journal is next. ♪ good morning. here are your morning headlines. the new york times reports that president obama will announce some restraints on nsa data collection. they will keep many programs in place. in the senate, a deal to extend unemployment benefits has collapsed this week. hopes of revising any compromise is not likely until congress returns after next week hospira recess at the end of the month. forwardmbers will move on a spending bill to fund the government through october. we will begin there.