finally, if we're serious about economic growth, it is time to heed the call of business leaders, labor leaders, finally, if we're serious about economic growth, it is time to heed the call of business leaders, labor leaders, faith eaders, law enforcement -- and fix our broken immigration system. republicans and democrats in the senate have acted and i know that members of both parties in the house want to do the same. independent economists say immigration reform will grow our economy and shrink our deficits by almost $1 trillion in the next two decades, and for good reasons. when people come here to fulfill their dreams, study, invest,

contribute to our culture, they make our country a more attractive place for businesses to locate and bring jobs for everybody. so let's get immigration reform one this year. let's get it done. it's time. the ideas i have outline sod far can speed up growth and create more jobs but in this rapidly changing economy, we have to make sure that every american has the skills to fill those jobs. the good news is, we know how to do it. two years ago, as the auto industry came roaring back, andra rush opened up a manufacturing firm in detroit. she knew that ford needed parts for the best-selling truck in america and she knew how to make those parts. she just needed the work force. so she dialed up what we call an american job center, places where folks can walk in to get

the help or training they need to find a new job or a better job. she was flooded with new workers. today, detroit manufacturing systems has more than 700 employees. what andra and her employees experienced is how it should be for every employer and every job seeker. tonight i've asked vice president biden to lead an across the board reform of america's training programs to make sure they have one mission, train americans with the skills employers need and match them to good jobs that need to be filled right now. that means more on the job training and more

apprenticeships that set a young worker on an upward trajectory for life. it means connecting countries to fill jobs with specific needs. if congress wants to help, concentrate on improving proven programs to connect ready to work americans with ready to be filled jobs. i'm also convinced we can help americans return to the work force faster by reforming unemployment insurance so it's more effective in today's economy. but first, this congress needs to restore the unemployment insurance you just let expire or 1.6 million people. let me tell you why.

misty is a mother of two young boys. she's been steadily employed since she was a teenager. put herself through college. she never collected unemployment benefits, but she's been paying taxes. in may, she and her husband used their life savings to buy their first homes. a week later, budget cuts claimed the job she loved. last month when her unemployment benefits ran out she wrote many a -- me a letter, the kind i get every day. we're the face of the unemployment crisis, she wrote. i'm not dependent on the government. our country depends on us, we care about our neighbors. i'm confident that in time i will find a job, i will pay my taxes and we will raise our children in our own home in the community we love. please give us this chance.

congress, give these hardworking, responsible americans that chance. give them that chance. ive them the chance. they need our help right now but more important, this country needs them in the game. that's why i've been asking c.e.o.'s to give more long-term unemployed workers a fair shot at new jobs a new chance to support their families. in fact, this week, many will come to the white house to make that commitment real. tonight i ask every business leader in america to join us and do the same because we are stronger when america feels a -- ields a full team. of course, it's not enough to train today's work force. we also have to prepare

tomorrow's work force. by guaranteeing every child access to a world class education. steven rodriguez couldn't speak any english when he came to this country. but he led a crowd of classmates from the school to the post office where they mailed off their college applications. this son of a factory worker just found out he's going to college this fall. five years week set out to change the odds for all our kids. we worked with lenders to reform

student loans and today more young people are earning college degrees than ever before. race to the top, with the help of governors from both parties, has helped states raise expectations and performance. teachers and principals in schools from tennessee to washington, d.c. are making big strides in preparing students with skills for the new economy. problem solving, critical thinking, science, technology, engineering, math. some of this change is hard. it requires everything from more challenging curriculums and more demanding parents, to better sport for teachers. and -- better support for teachers. and new ways to measure how well our kids think, not how well they can fill in a bubble on a test. but it is worth it, and it is working. the problem is, we're still not reaching enough kids. we're not reaching them in time. and that has to change.

research shows that one of the best investments we can make in a child's life is high quality early education. last year, i asked this congress to help states make high quality pre-k available over the 4-year-old. as a parent, as well as the president, i repeat that request tonight. but in the meantime, 30 states have raised pre-k funding on their own. they know we can't wait. just as we worked with states to reform our schools this year we'll invest in new partnerships with states and communities across the country in a race to the top for our youngest children. as congress decides what it's going to do, i'm going to pull together a coalition of elected officials, business leaders and

philanthropists willing to help more kids access the high-quality pre-k they need. it is right for america. e need to get this done. last year i also pledged to connect 99% of our students to high speed broadband over the next four years. tonight i can announce that with the support of the f.c.c. and companies like apple, microsoft, sprint, and verizon, we've got a down payment to start connecting more than 15,000 schools and 20 million students over the next two years without adding a dime o the deficit. we're working to redesign high schools and partner them with colleges and employers for --

with -- to have more real-world education. it will give parents more information and colleges more incentive to give better value so that no middle class kid is priced out of a college education. we're offering millions to cap -- millions to cap their monthly student loan payments to 10% of their income. i want to work with congress to see how we can help more americans who feel trapped by and i'm reaching out to foundations and corporations on a new initiative to help more young men of color to stay on track and reach their full potential. bottom line is, michelle and i want every child to have the same chance this country gave us. we know our opportunity ajeopardy after won't be complete and too many young

people entering the work force today will see the american dream as an empty promise unless we do more to make sure our economy honors the dignity of work and hard work pays off for every single american. and today, women make up about half our work force. but they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. that is wrong. and in 2014, it's an embarrassment. women deserve equal pay for qual work. she deserves to have a baby without sacrificing her job.

a mother deserves a day off to care for a sick child or a sick parent without running into hardship. and a father does, too. it is time to do away with workplace policies that are in a madman episode, let's work together, congress, businesses, wall street to main street to give every woman the opportunity she deserves because i believe hen women succeed, america ucceeds. now, women hold a majority of lower-wage jobs. but they aren't the only ones stifled by stagnant wages.

americans understand that some people will earn more money than others and we don't resent those who achieve incredible success. that is what america is all about. but americans overwhelmingly agree that those who work full-time shouldn't have to raise a family in poverty. in the years since i asked this congress to raise the minimum wage, five states have raised theirs. many businesses have done it on their own. nick shooter is here today with his boss. john is owner of a pizza place in minneapolis and nick helps make the dough, only now, he

makes more of it. john gave his employees a raise to 10 bucks an hour and that boosted their morale. i ask more of america's business leaders to follow john's lead. do what you can to raise your employees' wages. it's good for the economy, it's ood for america. every mayor, governor, state legislator in america, i say, you don't have to wait for congress to act, americans will support you if you take this on. and as the chief executive, i intend to lead by example. corporations like costco see higher wages as the smart way to oost activity and reduce

turnover. i will issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay their federally-funded employees a fair wage of $10.10 because if you cook our troops' meals or wash their dishes, you should not have to live in poverty. of course, to reach millions more, congress does need to get on board. today, the federal minimum wage is worth about 0% less than it was when ronald reagan first stood here. tom harkin and george miller have a bill to fix that by ifting the minimum wage to $10 .10. this will help families and give businesses customers with more money to spend. it does not involve any new

bureaucratic program. join the rest of the country. say yes. give america a raise. give them a raise. there are steps we can take to help families make ends meet. fewer are more effected than the earned income tax credit. right now, it helps about half of all parents at some point. think about that. it helps about half of all parents in america at some point in their lives. but i agree with republicans like senator rubio that it doesn't do enough for single workers who don't have kids. let's do more to help americans get ahead.

let's help americans save for retirement. today, most americans don't have a pension. social security check often isn't enough on its own. and while the stock market has doubled over the last five years, that doesn't help folks who have 401k's. tomorrow i will direct the treasury to create a new way to elp americans start. myira. new savings bond to encourage folks to build a new nest egg. no risk of losing what you put in. if this congress wants to help with me, work with me and fix an upside down tax code that helps the wealthy saveb. offer every american access to

an i.r.a. on the job so they can have access to an i.r.a. and the most important investment is their home, protect taxpayers from a housing crisis and keeps the dream of home ownership for uture generations. one last point on financial security. for decades, few things exposed hard-working families to economic hardship more than a broken health care system. and in case you haven't heard, we are in the process of fixing that. now, a pre-existing condition used to mean that someone like amanda shelley, a physician's

assist ant and single mom from arizona, couldn't get health insurance. but on january 1, she got covered. on january 3, she felt a sharp pain. on january 6, she had emergency surgery. one week earlier, amanda said, that surgery would have met bankruptcy. that's what health insurance reform is all about, the peace of mind that if misfortune strikes, you don't have to lose everything. already because of the affordable care act, more than three million americans under age 26 have gained coverage under their parents' insurance plan. more than nine million americans have signed up for private health insurance or medicaid

coverage. nine million. here's another number. zero, because of this law, no american, none, zero can ever again be dropped or denied coverage for a pre-existing condition like asthma or back ain or cancer. no woman can ever be charged more just because she's a woman. and we did all this while adding years to medicare's finances, keeping medicare premiums flat and lowering prescription costs for millions of seniors. now, i do not expect to convince

my republican friends on the merits of this law. but i know that the american people are not interested in refighting old battles, so again, if you have specific plans to cut costs, cover more people, increase choice, tell america what you do differently. let's see if the numbers add up. but let's not have another 40-something votes to repeal a law that is already helping millions of americans like manda.

first 40 were plenty. we all owe it to the american people to say what we're for, not against. if you want to know the real impact, talk to governor of kentucky. kentucky is not the most liberal votes. he is like a man possessed when it comes to covering his commonwealth's families. they are our neighbors and our friends, he said. they are people we shop and go to church with, farmers out on the tractor, grocery clerks, for people who go to work every morning praying they don't get sick. no one deserves to live that way. he's right. that's why tonight i ask every

american who knows someone without health insurance who help them get covered by march 31. help them get covered. moms, get on your kids to sign up. kids, call your mom and walk her through the application. it will give her some peace of mind, plus she will appreciate earing from you. after all, that's the spirit that has always moved this nation forward. it's the spirit of citizenship. recognition that through hard work and responsibility, we can pursue our individual dreams, but still come together as one american family to make sure the next generation can pursue its dreams as well. citizenship means standing up or everyone's right to vote.

last year, part of the voting rights act was weakened, but conservative republicans and liberal democrats are working to strengthen it. and the bipartisan commission i appointed, chaired by my campaign lawyer and governor romney's campaign lawyer came together and have offered reforms so no one has to wait more than a half hour to vote. let's support these efforts. it should be the power of our vote, not the size of our bank account that drives our emocracy. citizenship means standing up for the lives that gun violence steals from us each day.

i've seen the courage of parents, students, police officers all over this country who say, we are not afraid. and i intend to keep trying, with or without congress, to help stop more tragedies from visiting innocent americans in our movie theaters, our shopping malls, or schools like sandy ook. citizenship demands a sense of common purpose. participation in the hard work of self-government. an obligation to serve our communities. and i know this chamber agrees that few americans give more to their country than our diplomats and the men and women of the

nited states armed forces. tonight buzz of the extraordinary troops and civilians who risk and lay down their lives to keep us free, the united states is more secure. when i took office, nearly 180,000 americans were serving in iraq and afghanistan. today, all our troops are out of iraq. more than 60,000 of our troops

have already come home from afghanistan. with afghan forces now in the lead for their own security, our troops have moved to a support role. together with our allies we'll compete our mission there by the end of this year and america's longest war will finally be ver. after 2014, we will support a unified afghanistan as it takes responsibility for its own future. if the afghan government signs a security agreement that we have negotiated, a small force of americans could remain in afghanistan with nato allies to carry out two narrow missions. training and assisting afghan forces and counterterrorism operations to pursue any

remnants of al qaeda. while our relationship with afghanistan will change, one thing will not. our resolve that terrorists do not launch attacks against our country. the fact is, that danger remains. when we put al qaeda's ore leadership on the path to defeat, a threat -- the threat has evolved as extremists take root all over the world. in yemen, somalia, iraq, we have to keep working with partners to disrupt and disable those networks. in syria, we'll support the opposition that rejects the

agenda of terrorist networks. here at home, we'll keep strengthening our defenses and combat new threats like cyberattacks. as we reform our defense budget, we will have to keep faith with our men and women in uniform and invest in the capabilities they need to succeed in future issions. we have to remain vigilant. i strongly believe our leadership and our security cannot depend on our outstanding military alone. as commander in chief, i have used force when needed to protect the american people and i will never hesitate to do so as long as i hold this office.

but i will not send our troops into harm's way unless it is truly necessary, nor will i allow our sons and daughters to be mired in open-ended conflicts. we must fight the battles that need to be fought, not those that terrorists prefer from us, large-scale deployments that drain our strength and may ultimately feed extremists. so even as we actively and aggressively pursue terrorist networks through more targeted efforts and by building the capacity of our foreign partners, america must move off a permanent war footing. that's why i've imposed limits on the use of drones, for we will not be safer if people abroad believe we strike within their countries without regard for consequences. that's why working with this

congress, i will reform our surveillance programs because the vital works of our intelligence community depends on public confidence here and abroad that the privacy of ordinary people are not being violated. and with the afghan war ending, this needs to be the year congress lifts the remain regular strixes on detainee transfers and close the prison at guantanamo bay. because we counter terrorism not just through intelligence and military actions but by remaining true to our constitutional ideals and setting an example for the rest of the world. you see, in a world of complex threats, our security, our leadership, depends on all elements of our power, including strong and principled diplomacy.

american diplomacy has rallied more than 50 countries to prevent nuclear materials from falling into the wrong hands and allowed us to reduce our own reliance on cold war stockpiles. american diplomacy, backed by e threat of force is why chemical weapons are being eliminated. and we will continue to work with the international community to usher in the future the syrian people deserve, a future free of dictatorship and fear. as we speak, american diplomacy is supporting israelis and palestinians that they engage in the difficult but necessary talks to end the conflict there, to achieve dignity and an independent state for palestinians and lasting peace and security for the state of israel a jewish state that knows america will always be at their ide.

and it is american diplomacy, backed by pressure, that has halted the progress of iran's nuclear program and rolled back parts of that program for the very first time in a decade. as we gather here tonight, iran has begun to eliminate its stockpile of higher levels of enriched uranium. it's not installing advanced centrifuges. unprecedented inspections help the world verify every day that iran is not building a bomb. and with our allies and partners, we're engaged in negotiations to see if we can peacefully achieve a goal we all share -- preventing iran from obtain agnew clear weapon.

these negotiations will be difficult. they may not succeed. we are clear-eyed about iran's support for terrorist organizations like hezbollah which threaten os our -- threatens our allies and we're clear about the mistrust between our nations, mistrust that cannot be wished away. but these negotiations don't rely on trust. any long-term deal we agree to must be based on verifiable action that convinces us and the international community that iran is not build agnew clear bomb. if john f. kennedy and ronald reagan could negotiate with the soviet union, then surely a strong and confident america can negotiate with less powerful

adversaries today. the sanctions that we put in place help make this opportunity possible. but let me be clear. if this congress sends me a new sanctions bill now that threatens to derail these talks, i will veto it. for the sake of our national security, we must give diplomacy a chance to succeed. if iran's leaders do not seize this opportunity, then i will be the first to call for more sanctions and stand ready to exercise all options to make sure iran does not build a nuclear weapon. fie ran's leaders do seize the chance, and we'll know soon

enough, then iran could take an important step to rejoin the community of nations and we will have resolved one of the leading security challenges of our time ithout the risks of war. finally, let's remember that our leadership is defined not just by our defense against threats, but by the enormous opportunities to do good and promote understanding around the globe. forge greater cooperation. expand new markets. free people from fear and want. and no one is better positioned to take advantage of those opportunities than america. our alliance with europe remains the strongest the world has ever known. from tu knee shah to burma, we're supporting those who are willing to do the hard work of building democracy. in ukraine, we stand for the

principle that all people have the right to express themselves freely and peacefully. but they have a saying -- that they have a say in their country's future. across africa, we're bringing together businesses and governments to double access to electricity and help end extreme poverty. in the americas, we're building new ties with commerce but we're also expanding cultural and educational exchanges among young people. and we will continue to focus on the asia-pacific where we support our allies, shape a future of greater security and prosperity, and extend a hand to those devastated by disaster. as we did in the philippines when our marines and civilians rushed to aid those battered by a typhoon. and who were greated with words like, we will never forget your kindness. and god bless america. we do these things because they help promote our long-term security.

and we do them because we believe in the inherent dignity and equality of every human being, regardless of race or religion. creed or sexual orientation. next week, the world will see one expression of that commitment when team u.s.a. marches the rhett, white, and blue into olympic stadium and rings home the gold. my fellow americans, no other country in the world does what we do. on every issue, the world turns to us. not simply because of the size of our economy or our military might, but because of the ideals we stand for.

and the burdens we bear to advance them. no one knows this better than those who serve in uniform. as this time of war draws to a close, a new generation of heroes returns to civilian life. we'll keep slashing that backlog so our veterans receive the benefits they earned and our wounded warriors receive the health care, including the mental health care, that they eed. we'll keep working to help all our veterans translate their skills and leadership into jobs here at home and we will all continue to join forces to honor and support our remarkable military families.

let me tell you about one of those families i have come to know. hemsberg, an ey army ranger, on omaha beach on d-day. along with some rangers, he walked me through the ceremony. he was a -- an impressive young man, an easy manner, sharp as a tack. we took some pictures, i told him to stay in touch. a few months later, on his 10th deployment he was nearly killed by a massive roadside bomb in his comrades found him face down in the canal face down . for months he laid in a coma.

next time i met him, he couldn't speak. he could barely move. over the years, he has endured hours of surgeries, grueling rehab. he is still blind in one eye, still struggles on his left side. but slowly, steadily, with the support of caregivers like his dad greg and the community around him, he has grown stronger, he has learned to speak again, stand again and walk again and walking toward the day when he can serve his country again. my recovery has not been easy, he says. nothing in life that's worth anything is easy.

corey is here tonight and like the army he loves, like the america he serves, sergeant neverclass corey ramsburg gives up and he does not quit.

the president: my fellow americans, my fellow americans, men and women like corey remind

us that america has never come easy. our freedom, our democracy have never been easy. sometimes we stumble. we make mistakes. we get frustrated or discouraged. but for more than 200 years, we have put those things aside and placed our collective shoulder to the wheel of progress. to create and build and expand the possibilities of individual achievement, to free other nations from tyranny and fear. to promote justice and fairness and equality under the law so that the words set to paper by our founders are made real for every citizen. the america we want for our kids , a rising america where work is

plentiful and prosperity is widely shared and opportunity lets us go as far as our dreams, none it of it is easy. and if we work together, if we summon what is best in us, the way corey summoned what is best in him, with our feet planted intoy but our eyes looking the future. god bless you. and god bless the united states of america.

thank you so much.

>> next the republican response to the state of the union. this is 10 minutes.

>> what an honor it is to be with you after the president state of the union. tonight, we honor america. a nation that has witnessed the greatest rise in freedom and opportunity our world has seen. by our potential. a girl who worked at the mcdonald's drive-through to pay for college can be with you at the united states capitol. the most important moments right now are not happening here. they are not in the oval office or in the house chamber. there in your homes. issing your kids good night, figuring how to pay the bills, getting ready for tomorrow's doctors visit. we ain't two-year from those you love serving in afghanistan. or searching for that big job interview. we the people have been the foundation of america since her earliest days. people from all walks of life nd from all corners of the world.

people who come to america because here, no challenge is too great and no dream too big. that is the genius of america. tonight, the president made more promises that sound good. but it will not solve the problems facing americans. we want you to have a better life. the president wants that, too. but we part ways when it comes to how to make that happen. so tonight, i would like to share a more hopeful republican vision, one that empowers you, not the government. it is one that champions free markets and trusts people to make their own decisions, not a government that decides for you. it helps working families rise above the limits of poverty and protect our most vulnerable. it is one where washington plays by the same rules that you do. it is a vision that is fair and offers the promise of a better

future for every american. if you would have told me as a little girl that i would one day put my hand on the bible and be sworn in as the two hundredth woman to serve in the house of representatives, i would not have thought it possible. i grew up work in my family loss orchard. getting up before dawn with my brother to pick apples. my mom worked as a part-time bookkeeper. the tommy to help others and always dream for more. when i showed my animals at the county fair, my parents used to say, you need to save us money so you can go to college one day. and so i did. i saved, i worked hard, and i became the first in my family to graduate from college. the chance to go from my washington to this one was unexpected. i came to congress to help mpower people. not politicians. to grow the working middle

class, not the government. and to ensure that everyone in this country can find a job, because a job is so much more than a paycheck. it gives us purpose, dignity, and the foundation to build the uture. i was single when i was elected. it was not long before i met brian, a retired navy commander and now we have three beautiful children, one who was born just eight weeks ago. like all parents, we have high hopes and dreams for our children. we also know what it is like to face challenges. we got news no parent expects. cole was diagnosed with downs syndrome. the doctor's told us he could have endless complications, heart defects, even early alzheimer's. they told us all the problems but we looked at our son, we saw only possibilities. we saw a gift from god. today, we see a six-year-old boy

who dances to bruce sprinsteen and reads above grade level and who is the best big brother in the world. we see all the things he can do. not those he cannot. cole and his sisters have only made me more determined to see the potential in every human life, that whether we are born with an extra 21st chromosome or not a dollar to our name. that we our mission as americans is to ensure that we are not bound by where we come from, but empowered by what we can ecome. that is the gap republicans are working to close. it is the gap will face between where you are and where you want to be. the president talks a lot about

income inequality. the real gap we face today is one of opportunity inequality. with this administration's policies, that gap has become far too wide. we see this gap growing every single day. we see it in our neighbors who are struggling to find jobs. a husband who is working just part time. a child who dropped out of college because she cannot afford tuition. or parents who are outliving their life savings. last month, more americans stopped looking for a job than found one. too many people are falling further and further behind because right now, the president's policies are making lives harder. republicans have plan to close the gap, focusing on jobs first without war spending, government bailouts, and red tape. we are working to expand our economy, one manufacturing job, nursing degree at a time.

we have plans to improve our education and training systems so you have the choice to etermine where your kids go to school. so college is affordable and skills training is modernized. it is time to honor our history of legal immigration. we are working on a step-by-step solution to immigration reform by first securing our borders and making sure america will always attract the best, brightest, and hardest working from around the world. and with too many americans living paycheck to paycheck, we have solutions to help you take home more of your pay through lower taxes, cheaper energy costs, and affordable health care. not long ago, i got a letter from betty in spokane who had hoped the health care law would save her money but found in instead her premiums were going up nearly $700 a month. we have all talked to too many

people who have received cancellation notices they did not expect. or who can no longer see the doctors they always have. no, we should not go back to the way things were. but this law is not working. republicans believe health care choices should be yours, not the government's and that whether you are a boy with down syndrome or a woman with breast cancer, you can find coverage and a doctor who will treat you. e hope the president will join us in a year of real action by empowering people and not by making their lives harder with unprecedented spending, higher taxes, and fewer jobs, as republicans we advance these plans every day. we believe in a government that

trusts people. and does not limit where you finish because of where you started. that is what we stand for. an america that is every bit as compassionate as it is exceptional. a work force that can take on a world. whether you are a girl or boy, our children should be able to say that we closed the gap. our plan is one that dreams big for everyone and turns its back on no one. the president said many things tonight, but now, i ask him to listen to you. for the true state of the union lies in your heart and in your home. tomorrow, i'll watch my son cole get on the school bus. others will wait in the doctor's office or interview for that

first job, some of us will celebrate new beginnings, others will face great challenges, but all of us will wake up and do what is uniquely american. we will look forward to the balanced potential that lies ahead. we will give thanks to the brave men and women who have answered america's call to freedom like sergeant jacob hess who recently gave his life recently to protect ours. so tonight, i simply offer a rayer, a prayer for sergeant hess' family, your family and for our larger american family that with the guidance of god, we may prove ourselves worthy of his blessings of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, for when we embrace these gifts we are doing our part to form a more perfect union.

may god guide you and our president, and may god continue to bless the united states of america. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> we will be back to congress' reaction to the state of union. ox news piece. one of the topics on the sunday shows this morning as well. last week, house republicans and president obama brought up the possibility of immigration legislation in the year ahead. president obama sat down with cnn on thursday and talked about the distances on two sides, attracting skilled students and workers and creating a process for citizenship. and paul ryan talked with house members at their retreat last week and he emphasized republican's priorities including securing the border,

creating a visa tracking system and no amnesty. listen to the sunday talk shows on c-span radio and under way right now and rebroadcast them again tonight after midnight. reaction from members of congress to the state of the union and comments about the year ahead. this discussion was hosted by politico and about two 1/2 hours. >> good morning, everybody.

i'm thrilled to be joined on this early post-state of the union morning by susan brooks, congresswoman from indiana, james lankford, congressman from oklahoma, mike pompeo, congressman from kansas, three house republicans who were obviously at the state of the union, we hope, last night. our mobile polling question for this conversation is displayed on the tv's above us so weigh in and participate in this event. so let's get started. guys, this is a question that we're asking everybody today. so you'll hear throughout the presentation but the biggest thing i learned about president obama last night was that he was blank. i'll start with you, congressman pompeo. >> in charge for five years but responsible for nothing. >> and congressman lankford. >> i'm not sure i learned that. i knew that side of him. i think he -- i learned he finds it very important that you call your mother. >> obvious reference to his urging of the american people to sign up for health care. >> call your mom. >> congresswoman. >> he likes to use the word i a lot rather than we. >> on that note -- sorry.

continue. >> unfortunately, i paid a lot more attention to that and rereading his remarks this morning. used the word i a lot. >> on that note, one thing that was obvious and very prominent and the white house talked a lot about was his -- he wants to take executive actions. unilateral actions on things like -- he's going to raise the federal minimum wage. he's talking about a whole host of executive action. congressman lankford, what do house republicans plan to do about that? >> that's the interesting part. in some ways he's going back to his base saying i'm going to stick those republicans in the eye. i'm just going to go around them. most of the proposals he's laying out he already has statutory authority to do. he's just trying to charge up his base and go after it. and some things should get pushed back on. traditionally there is' been a member of your own party in the senate that's risen up and challenged his own president when they exceeded constitutional authority. think about robert byrd challenging democratic presidents saying, mr. president, you can't do that. we have to honor the constitution. we just find that in this day and age people challenging their own president. if he pushes beyond constitutional authority, he should be held to account that, not only hearings but also

supreme court, as we see in the supreme court case just last week where the supreme court -- the president says to the senate, i'm going to define what your schedule is. i'm going to tell the senate when you're in recess and when you're not and i think the supreme court is going to knock that back. >> congressman, you're an attorney involved in the king committees on capitol hill. what does he have the authority to do by executive order? what do you think the bounds of this are and how should house republicans respond to that? >> look, every president's issued executive orders. that's appropriate to do. but the scope of things this president has done, take major pieces of law and just because he says so choose not to enforce them, that's radically different than previous presidents' executive orders. he says we have this health care law i loved and passed without a single republican vote. i'm going to take huge pieces of it and delay it. he said that's an old fight.

we don't want to refight that fight. that fight is less than a month old. and major players say, it's -- he's declaring this as an old fight and out of bounds of what we shouldn't discuss. those are the kinds of things that we should push back on. when he takes things outside of statutory authority, we'll have hearings. and even people like the good solid conservative ned when presidents take executive action you begin to have a country that's very different than what our founders intended. >> i want to pose this question to all of you guys. i assume that you guys have the same views. but congressman pompeo and lankford talked about oil and how oil production is up. his energy policy. i want to get your take on that. you might have a different opinion than the president, i would guess. fire off here. >> it is stunning to watch a

president who is bound and determined, honest about his desire to stop coal-powered power plants. talk about how oil production is up on his watch. every single policy statement that he makes puts a burden on folks who are trying to produce these energies. he talks about taking away ordinary tax deductions from him that every other industry player gets, a health care bill that makes it expensive for them to operate their companies. then he talks about a transition. he didn't say how long he wanted natural gas to be a transition for. i suspect his base will be a transition for about 20 minutes. and we know that fossil fuels are going to be around for decades to come, and yet this president will wave his magic wand and pretend it's not so. >> what's fascinating to me, the president says i'm going to streamline bureaucracies. that's my favorite statement where he said i am going to streamline bureaucracies to make sure natural gas can be used in factories. well, my first thought was, if you want to streamline some bureaucracies and use your pen

and your phone that you talk about, there is a keystone pipeline permit that's been on your desk almost 2,000 days waiting on just a permit signature on it. there's some significant things there. he talks about streamlining for factories but right now the e.p.a., if you want to actually modify your vehicle to use c.n.g., it takes six to eight months just to get that permit. the vehicle is almost out of date by the time you get certified to use it. so there are a lot of bureaucracies for the expansions of fuels. we had a major push on the export of l.n.g. the administration is slow walking all these permits for the export of l.n.g. it would be a tremendous job boost. he talks about natural gas being this clean fuel, which it is. if it is then we should be exporting that worldwide. >> congresswoman, you were shaking your head. >> well, what amazed me last night a couple of times is when he talked about cutting red tape and, you know, making the bureaucracy much easier for the companies of all sorts to

operate infrastructure and so forth. he was talking about, again, just making things simpler and cutting red tape and lessening bureaucracy and that we shouldn't be fighting about the size of the government. i think he actually started out by that. that we should get over talking about the size of the federal government when those are exactly all of the type of policies that we continue to see from this president. and so i kind of laughed when he was talking about cutting red tape because as it's truly the growth of his bureaucracy and the government under his watch that has really made it so much more difficult for the american people to move forward. >> and one thing that the president probably can't do by executive order but would like to see you guys accomplish is immigration reform. i know this is a touchy topic and not only republican circles and obviously some democratic circles, a very tough issue to deal with in 2014. congresswoman, what is your view on the senate's immigration proposal and what will you -- what would you like to see house republicans do? >> well, we're headed today to have a really important discussion with the rest of our

republican colleagues at the retreat about the principles that we can -- there we can stand together on with respect to immigration reform. i do believe immigration reform is necessary. i don't believe the senate's proposal in this huge massive package was the right way to go about it. it's too complex of a problem, and so i agree with our approach of taking the different problems with immigration piece by piece. and so i think we will tackle it. i hope that we jump into it because it is a problem that's not going away. and so, you know, i'm pleased that we're going to come together and come up with those principles. we know that the business community is one of their top agenda items. in my community, whether it's the chambers or the agricultural community, they want to see immigration reform happen. and for the work force of this country, we actually need to get this right. and so -- but we got to secure the border. if we don't secure the border, then we're back at the same problem that brought us this problem to begin with. so it does start with border security and then, i believe,

you know, we can get into the other reforms that are necessary. but in a piece-by-piece fashion. it's too complicated to take it in one bill. >> vice president biden this morning on cbs this morning said that citizenship is what should be at the end of the pathway. it shouldn't only be legalization. it should be citizenship. if that's the white house's stance, is immigration reform going to happen this year? >> no. because -- and that's our biggest concern. i don't think anyone looks at our immigration system and say, wow, it's looking great. everything is working fine on immigration. it's not. legal and illegal immigration, we are not convinced that we have a willing partner, we're afraid he wants to work on the politics of it and that's a business concerning. it's not just the rhetoric. you go back to december of 2012 when we passed a bill that dealt with high-skilled workers and the president jumped out and said, i am going to veto it.

i want to do everything. i don't want to do it piece by piece. it's not something we should be done in a comprehensive fashion. so if his focus is if you can't do everything we'll do nothing, that's really sad. because i think we can agree on many things. >> just to close it out, to bring it back to where you began, to the president with respect to immigration has taken executive action that is deeply, deeply outside of his statutory authority. right? he's chosen not to enforce major pieces of current immigration law. and so when he comes to us and say, hey, pass another statute, there's the confidence that he'll execute against the law is incredibly low with respect to immigration in particular. so what i'd love to see him do is say, watch, i'm going to implement what's out there today. you'll find a great more willingness from folks on the republican party to pass new laws and fix things that we've identified. >> and just to give the audience

a sense of where the house republican conference is, they have a great sense of where the conference is. how deep is the distrust based on what you said? this is something i hear all the time from you and your colleagues. how deep is the distrust with the president? >> just to start -- it's not us. it's the folks we represent. it's when we go home. i was home in kansas this weekend. when you talk to folks, the distrust of this president, the promises he makes, the statements he asserts and then he walks away from them, that's a kind word to describe it, is known by them. they see it. they're living it. it's impacting their lives. this isn't about politics. this isn't about our party. this isn't about getting re-elected. this is about the lives of folks across this country who doesn't trust the president to do the things that he promises. >> due to my position in the house, i've been at some of the negotiations in the white house, i sat around the table in the

roosevelt room as we worked through some of the issues. the president said things behind closed doors and we thought we were headed in the right direction and 12 hours later it's completely different. >> in my first year in congress, besides hearing the president at the state of the union last year we had only one other meeting with the president of the united states where he actually came to the house republicans and talked to us. one other time. and so i think the problem is in order to have trust you have to have a relationship. and there is not a solid working good relationship with the president. and so this is, you know, coming to the state of the union last night, i feel like it's the third time i'm not in those meetings. you know, at this point having those negotiations but yet we have little to know relationship with the president and actually i would think a lot of democrat members i've talked to would say the same thing. >> and so give -- so let's fill this out a little bit more then. given the entire state of the

union, all -- you know, 65 minutes or whatever it was, how many proposals that the president laid out will house republicans tackle this year? just to give a sense of where the house republican conference is. >> there are a couple of them. he turned to the vice president and said he's going to work on reforming our jobs program and the training program. i leaned over to kevin mccarthy and said, that's the skills act. we did that already. and he threatened to veto that immediately. it wasn't a, well, let's have a conversation about it. some of those things we're very supportive. we talked about the streamlining of permitting, we're very supportive of those things. we'd like to see duplication removed in government. we'd like to see more decisionmaking at the local level. he talked about the american people and the strength of their decisionmaking but then halfway through the speech he said the american people won't be successful unless we do those things. it can't be the same. >> you head to beautiful cambridge, maryland, for the house republican retreat. i heard they got three inches of snow so hopefully you bought your boots.

give us -- if you could give us a sense of what house republicans will be tackling this year, give us a sense of what you want to see at the end of this weekend, next week what will washington be talking about and what will house republicans be doing? easy question. >> well, i'll say this. one of the things that was noticeably absent last night was any serious discussion about america's debt. he opened the speech by saying he reduced the deficit by half. right. i told my son, it's like you're going 200 miles an hour, son, you went down to 100 and told the cop, great deal, huh? i hope we haven't lost sight. to quote the president, that's not an old tired debate. it's what james and i and the class of 2010 and susan's class came to tackle. i hope we didn't lose the sight that we're spending $600 billion more than it's taking in. it's not sustainable. >> one of the things i was pleased that he talked about last night and so i have real

hope if he chooses so lead on it as well is tax reform. and he did bring up tax reform last night. and he actually talked about tax reform in a way that he didn't talk about raising taxes for the first time. so he talked about actually helping businesses and lowering rates and trying to make sure that we keep jobs in this country and bring those overseas profits back to our shores. so i'm hopeful. you know, i felt like tax reform was really moving in a positive direction. and so with chairman camp leading the way, i'm hopeful we can get some tax reform done. >> congressman lankford, you're policy chair. you can actually tell us what will happen. >> oh, no. i'm not clairvoyant in that way, especially among house republicans. most of our conversations in the next three days will circle around two different sets of issues. some of the problems we want to solve that we'll try to tackle there will hopefully move through the senate and the white house and the other is, what are the big things we'll work on,

tax reform is one of those things, immigration is one of those things. what will we try to do in energy policy, those are all big issues that will take up a lot of time. we're actually planning to do appropriations bills. since we have an agreed-upon number we can work through those appropriations bills. we'll be limited somewhat with what we can do through the summer so we have to be strategic on what we take on the schedule. >> thank you, guys. it's time to wrap you of. thank you very much for coming and sharing your thoughts and hopefully that made a lot of news. it's a lot to digest. thank you very much for your time. and now i'd like to welcome -- so i think you guys -- >> exiting. >> and we're shuffling right away. >> stage right. >> stage right, i'm sorry. >> thanks. >> i'm a reporter for a reason. thanks, guys. now i'd like to welcome congressman kevin mccarthy from california and congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz, the chair of the democratic national committee. [applause]

ok. so it's just me and you. >> yeah. >> congressman, how are you? >> very well. >> so we got a one-on-one. i've been asking for a one-on-one for a long time with congressman mccarthy. >> you want me to give you debbie's answers? >> you can give me her answers as well. one question we're asking everybody is the biggest thing you learned about president obama last night was what? >> he watches "mad men." >> so you're saying out of that whole 60-something speech, there was nothing new that you learned about president obama? >> no. when i listened to the speech, i was trying to look through what he talked about is what he has talked about. there wasn't something new that came out.

maybe a little more humor. he watches "mad men" and others. i thought his ending was a very moving, compelling story. but there wasn't something new hat grasped. my r.a. really wasn't the concept. it's almost as i watched it a metaphor, you watch someone going on a long trip in a car that's running out of gas. i wonder if you look at it, did the american people tune out? he seemed like he wanted the democrats to stay together. really rally around health care. but i wonder if that split a lot of the democrats that could cost them the senate and just put hem in a stronger box. >> so as everybody probably knows but i'll remind, mr. mccarthy is the number three house republican, the house majority whip, in charge of wrangling house republicans to vote for bills and initiatives, party initiatives.

>> how do you get people to get up this early? >> we have a dedicated audience. we're very fortunate. so out of that entire speech last night, touched on a lot of things, executive orders, immigration, minimum wage, the my r.a. concept. what are some things that house republicans will take from that speech and put into legislation? >> well, one, trade. we'd love to work with him on trade. we'd love to work with him on energy. nothing in that speech said legislation. it's either do what i want or 'll go around. and i don't think that is helpful. i understand he has the phone and the pen. i always say, well, use the phone to call and work together. use the pen to sign the bills we work together on. to me that's a frustration. but remember, we make policy in the world of politics. when he talked about what i referred to about job training

and others, that sounded a lot like the skills act that passed the house and lingers in the senate. so that's a capability. use the phone to tell harry reid, let's move that. find common ground there. there are opportunities, but it's got to be more than a speech. it's got to be worked. there seems to be a little history of that -- not that following through. >> you touched on a number of things that he discussed. the -- let's start with the job training piece. you talked about the skills act. tell our guests kind of what the contours of the skills act are? what could you work on with president obama there? >> well, in the house we passed something called the skills act. what you do, you have a lot of job training programs, a lot of duplication and others. how do you streamline that? how do you get individuals to get the training they need in a faster and working it through, eliminating duplication? these are things a lot within community and community colleges

love and can be helpful for development. so we've passed more than 160 bills that linger in the senate. now, the challenge of what we do is -- and this is why i bring up making policy in the world of politics -- the house can pass a lot of legislation, but you have a senate that has the fear of maybe losing a majority. so you have a senate leader that doesn't want to put a lot of his members that can be vulnerable in tough races up on any votes. so you deny amendments and you deny bringing something up. that's difficult for the president if he wants to accomplish legislation as well. it's not the biggest challenge to deal with us in the house. his biggest challenge is, will the senate and can he get members within his own party or the leader in the senate to say, yes, i'm going to bring that up and we're going to have a round of amendments and some are going to be tough votes because that's not the nature the senate wants to go. the senate doesn't want anything

to happen. >> so you're saying a lot of house bills are stuck in the senate, some of these things are things that president obama talked about. one thing that he talked about last night, the centerpiece of his speech was immigration reform. so talk about what you guys are looking at with immigration reform and will it happen in 2014, will you actually pass bills in 2014? >> well, we're going to our issues conference today, and that will be one of the topics. immigration currently is broken, and the challenges what we have -- and there's different ways to look at the immigration, but the system itself today is broken. an interesting fact that most people don't pay close attention to is 42% of everyone that is here illegally came here legally. they came on a visa and they overstayed. nobody has any checks in it, right? and today's society, we don't have that? we have a system that is a luck of a lottery and a chain migration.

that's probably not the best mode for america. we have an idea where you come here, you become an engineer, one of the best and brightest coming out of our universities and then we tell you, oh, no, no, no. you can't stay here. you need to go to another country and compete against us. that's a backwards thought. there's a lot of places there -- first and foremost, what members, i'll tell you, really on both sides of the aisle, if you're digging yourself in a hole, the first thing is to stop digging. if you don't secure the border or you just going to perpetuate the problem? a lot of things that we asked for in the 1986 immigration reform never came to fruition. so secure first before you do anything, and then i think you'll find the way the house will go about it, issue by issue. i mean, when you deal with an issue of immigration, a lot of people have different opinions. make each issue stand on its own and have that debate.

that's the way the house looks at it, and i think it's more important to get it right than of the timing when you do it. and every time i read about a big bill and me say, it has to get done today, that's when it gets done wrong. and how many times do you have a chance to do it right? so make sure it's right before anything moves. >> so what i hear you saying, maybe 2015 is an option? maybe doing this in 2015 is feasible at this point? >> well, the thing i will tell you is, i would not support unless it's right. so it's not -- >> that's a lot coming from the house leader. you're saying it probably won't come to the floor if you don't think that it's right? if your leadership doesn't think it's right? >> well, we're going to sit down in a conference today going through all the irch use, from health to -- issues, from health care to energy from economic, we're going to set out our issues and these are the things we'll work towards. we come to make a difference but we come to get it right. not to say we have to readdress it the next day. >> so one of the issues of

immigration is the aspect of citizenship. what to do with the 11 or so million undocumented immigrants in the united states. you made some news last week when you were at home in bakersfield about your view on citizenship and what to do with the 11 million here. what is your view on it? >> i don't know how it's ews. it's the same thing i always said. >> it was interesting. >> it was news because we were on break. well, i think first and foremost you have to change the current system. you have to secure the borders. once you have done that and you've gone through anew, then you can talk about what the others are going through. a lot of people come to me, and what the big argument is, a path to citizenship right off the bat. i don't believe that from that standpoint. i believe the idea that you can get to an earned legal status. it doesn't mean if you came here illegally and you broke the law

that you can stay here. a felony, you got to go. i think it's different for people that came here under the age of 18. we don't hold in society you liable for items before. i think that's different. but otherwise if you came over the age of 18 -- and when you look back in 1980 provision, i mean, half of those that were illegal that they said could become citizens became citizens in the process. but we are a law -- we are a land of immigrants, a land of rule of law. and i think you have to sustain it. otherwise you'll break down society. and so i get protested because i won't support the senate version or say law does not matter and that somehow someone just becomes a citizen. that's not good for society. >> i think we'll have someone join you on stage. the chairman of the d.n.c., debbie wasserman schultz. i point out you were both at the grammys.

i don't know if you hung out and danced like taylor swift and -- > we were -- >> being here is enough. that's enough of an opening act. well, congresswoman, i am going to bring you into the conversation. mr. mccarthy had a lot of time to hog the stage alone. now, the question we're asking all of our participants is, the one thing you learned last night about president obama was blank, was what? >> was that he's going to reach out to congress and continue to act -- ask the republicans to find common ground but that after five years of trying to do that we have a lot of progress that we need to continue to make and he's not going to wait on them. he's going to take the actions that he needs to take to ensure we can continue to move america forward and help more people reach the middle class. the ball is in their court. >> so if you listen to mr. mccarthy and as these fine folks just did, he said there's a bunch of bills the president wants to streamline the job training programs, that's

sitting in the senate. the skills act that house republicans passed. house republicans said they've done all this stuff and the president and harry reid have ignored it. what's your response to it? >> my response is we have to make sure that when we are trying to find common ground that we not engage in the my way or the highway politics. so with all due respect, suggesting that there is legislation that the house passed and sent to the senate and they should just take it up and pass it is not the way to approach achieving common ground. the president proposed last night that we should make sure that we're making a significant investment and focusing on building america's -- americans' skills so they can be retrained and focus on new careers, that's obviously something that the republicans have indicated they're interesting in. probably pt approach in the skills act is not something that is going to be fully embraced by the democrats, but if we can

agree on the basic premise that job training and building america's skills, then that's a starting point. >> that's a good pint. we don't say it's our way or no way. today we are going to take up the farm bill. what did we do? we passed a bill and senate passed a bill and went to conference. that's the way the country was created. i'm saying do something. tell us where you stand. i have a major problem in california when it comes to the drought. first thing the president said to me when we went to the back for the escort, he said i'm calling the gomb tomorrow. i want to work on that with you. we want to work on that. the house took a position on the water crisis more than two years ago. the senate hasn't taken a position. just tell me where you stand, the structure of our government will find a way that we find

common ground. >> i could step back for a something >> since i was running late and let me suggest that the president made it clear what he thinks we should be doing, made very concrete proposals. lots of things that the republicans should be able to embrace and work with us on. we need to make sure for example, when you are working, you should not have to do a tremendous amount of hand wringing about how you are going to sustain yourself in retirement and ensuring we have an automatic enrollment process in an i.r.a. when you start a job. that has been proposed in the president's budget and unfortunately the republicans have not been willing to take that up. last night he proposed -- in the absence of congressional action, a my r.a. program so we could have a treasury bond so low-wage

workers can invest in. i hope that's a concept. let me speak optimisticically that the republicans can embrace. we need to make sure people who have a job are not living in poverty. we should create manufacturing opportunities so we can make things in america. president obama has proposed four more hubs last night and acknowledged that we can kick that into higher gear if republicans are willing to work with him on passing legislation to do that. but at the end of the day, we have to make sure that we are focused on working together. i actually -- we have a good working relationship. i think there are things that we can sit down and come together on. we talked about that privately many times, but look at what the republicans' agenda was this week. with all due respect to suggest

that your top priorities have been focused on more americans joining the middle class, yesterday, the top priority for republicans was to restrict women's right to make her own health care decisions through pushing through legislation h.r. 7. that's the stuff that is the the top of the republican agenda not economic bread and butter issues and showed the contrast of the priorities. >> the house voted and passed yesterday a bill that would restrict federal funding for abortions, is that right? >> which is already law. >> taxpayer money. >> why do you use people's taxpayer money? >> no. this is legislation that would go much further. we have federal law that already prohibits taxpayer funding of abortion that is in statute, codified in the affordable care

act, buttressed by president obama's executive order that he used to make sure that it was clear that that was not allowed and the republicans because their top priorities unfortunately recently has been narrow social issues and rigid social agenda rather than making sure of helping the middle class. look at the -- kevin, yesterday that was the bill put on the floor. >> the number one thing here is about the economy. >> which is why there was a bill on the floor yesterday that restricted women's access. >> i'm going to try to play let's find the common ground here. >> great. >> i try to divide them all the time. the my r.a. concept which was new to us last night, i hadn't heard the white house -- this wasn't one of the things the

white house projected, what is the initial republican take on that, is that something you guys should be open to or are open to? >> i don't know the specifics of what he had, but i'm a big believer in allowing people to invest their own money. i come from a family of not wealth. my wealth is what i put away. i started my fund with 50 bucks and it built. i love giving someone the opportunity to put something away letting them become more self-assured in the future. to me, that is a structural idea that we could sit down and talk about. tax reform, build it in. >> the my r.a. concept is not yet dead. not yet. only 8:45. we only have a couple minutes left here. i want to ask you both, we are

now in january and obviously the elections are rapidly approaching. you both raise a lot of money for your party, both have key positions within the party, tell us exactly why you think each of you in 2015, your party will be in control of the house and the senate. >> i want to hear her. >> age before beauty. [laughter] >> we should create a talk show. [laughter] >> first within reality, i don't see democrats imagining the house. if you look at retirement, look at the prospects of where the seatsr look at the latest "washington post" poll just on economic voters. we are at the strongest point we have been since 2002, at any time during the president's time served. i watched the other side stand

up when it came to health care. i think obamacare comes in three ways and i think voters are going to send a real message. more people have lost their health care than gained, watch their approval versus disapproval. the house will end up more republicans than they currently have today. senate, true play for the majority. actually expanding where it could before. for that same reason, the democrats stood up for health care as d.n.c. chair, she says they are going to run on that, i will guarantee those will determine whether the majority will be in the senate. that's a difficult part when you are running against. both parties have been in these places before. i think the senate is up for a majority as well for republicans to take over. >> should the people campaign

with people in arkansas and alaska? >> he should. >> in answer to your first question, yes, i do think that in 2015 -- i'm not going to confidently predict that democrats will take back the house but we will pick up seats. >> where? >> down, boy. and if you look at the contract of the president's speech last night, unfortunately for the republicans and the country, they are strangled in a civil war where the tea party has been allowed to take control of the agenda as evidenced by the legislation like this week. the pew poll and throw out a lot of different polls, the pew poll showed more americans want democrats to be in charge of the legislative branch of government. more americans trust democrats to move our country forward when it comes to the economy and more

americans are concerned about republicans' ethical considerations, for lack of a better term. the stark contrast between the priorities of democrats as evidenced by the state of the union is we are wanting to focus that more americans can join the middle class and move this economy forward and the republicans are engaged in a civil war and focused -- i didn't interrupt you -- focused on a rigid social agenda, that doesn't even get to the top five or 10 for the majority of americans. >> we have to wrap. that was a lively conversation. thank you very much for joining us. i would like to now welcome mike allen and missouri senator roy blunt to the stage. [applause]

good morning. welcome to our viewers in live stream land and viewers on c-span, we appreciate c-span bringing these amazing conversations to our addressens. we are honored to have senator roy blunt, republican of missouri who is on the appropriation committee.

he had good moments of showing e was relaxed with who he was. i thought the "mad men" was pretty good when calling your mom to get her signed up for health care because she might like to hear from you, i thought it was pretty good. if it was added or in the speech, it was well done and generally well delivered. >> you are wearing cowboy boots. > these are my snow boots.

we work from the parking garage to the school here in washington and better get my boots on to do that. you were on the escort committee and talked to the president. what was that like? >> he and i were talking. what i talked to the president about just beefly, he and mrs. obama have done a great job with the girls, great job as parents and i think a really good example as a family of prioritizing what you do as a family and it's one of the things i think that they have both done the very best. i even read the other day because of the age of the girls, i think sasha is the youngest, but one of them will still be in school when he is done being president. he said we may stay in washington for another year or so where she can finish school

and i think that's a good example for the president to set as a father and when i'm asked about the president, i say best i can tell as a father and a husband, he is doing the kinds of things that you would want a father and husband to do. >> what was the exchange? >> he said he appreciated it and the girls were growing up fast and that is a lot on his mind about how quickly these kids are growing up. last night when he said something about his children and grandchildren, you could see that as a guy who is beginning to think that's going to happen and happen quicker than he thought it would happen. >> senator, during the speech, you had a little exchange with the president's chief of staff, tell us about that. >> he was sitting in front of me and when the president mentioned one of the things that could happen is his idea of a unique manufacturing hub, chief of staff turned around and said that's your bill that's a bill

that senator brown and i have and lots of bipartisan legislation out there that could happen. and the president more than anybody else in the country and in the government at least is in the best place to figure out what he would like to have happen that's possible and i think that's the element of the art of government that the president has had the hardest time putting together, not just what he's for and what he's for is important, but what he's for that could actually be done is more important. and i think he's had a hard place figuring out how to get to that place and nobody is in a better position than him to look at what's out there, what could happen and a number of things he mentioned last night clearly could happen, manufacturing legislation, things that advance american energy. senator stabenow from michigan and i have a bill, excellence in

mental health act that are supported by veterans' groups, by behavioral health groups, by law enforcement, that would just simply allow us to expand at very little cost the access to behavioral health that federally qualified health care centers, community health centers, that could happen. the president could be signing that into law sometime this year if he would just maybe even if he doesn't get involved, but if he gets involved, all these things are easier than if he doesn't. so we could see a number of significant things happen. >> for those of you in the room here, couple of blocks from the white house, there is a mobile olling question on the screen.

senator blunt, the president has been talking about his pen, what do you think of that? > the president with three years left in his presidency, which is the length of the entire presidency. he has that much time left to say that i'm sort of giving up on both the congress and maybe the constitution. if there is a reason that things are supposed to be done the way they are supposed to be done and normal order of things in legislating, in governing and in life and occasionally you can violate them and get away with it, but if you violate them over and over again, you will face a significant problem. >> what is he violating here? >> trying to shortcut this process and think that is the way to get things done. i don't think that's the right way. it takes more effort on his part

to pass a law than to sign an executive order, but one, think a number of these executive orders are questionable and two, they don't necessarily have to have a life beyond the president. when he was running for president he said i'm going to look the every one of george bush's executive orders and see how many of them i need to eliminate immediately. this is sort of like if you are running the race around a track and you decide, well, i deserve to win and i'm pretty important, i'll cut across the middle and get to the finish line, you are disqualified at that point from being named a winner. i would like to see the president make the effort it takes to get things done the constitutional way and there are plenty of things that we can do if we did them the right way. >> there are things in washington that are starting to work after saying -- talking for

years now how broken washington is, looks like republicans are not going to shut down the government again or have a serious threat to. there was a budget deal. senator blunt, you are on the appropriations committee, you were mentioning to me that it looks like the appropriations process actually might work for the first time in -- >> in seven years, which is both a tragedy and travesty that we haven't done this the right way. appropriating sounds pretty boring until you set your priorities, how you set your priorities with your family and your personal spending and how you set government priorities and not one time in seven years has the process worked the way it's supposed to. the other day, we brought all the appropriations bills to the floor, a third of the year into the spending year and passed them all at once. actually that was a step forward

because many of these appropriations bills haven't been updated in years. a year ago when we started talking about cutting the line-by-line cutting which happened when we didn't follow the law and appropriated more money than the law said we could spend, the so-called sequester, didn't have to happen. it only happened if you violated the law which says this is how much money you could spend. the point i was going to make, when we brought the service chiefs in and i'm on the armed services committee and commerce committee and brought them into the committee and later to the defense appropriating committee and every one of them said the sequester is a problem but you are cutting a budget that we haven't wanted for years. you are cutting lines in a budget that met our needs six years ago that doesn't meet our needs now. this would be like a family and set aside money to remodel the bathroom and every year for the

next years you couldn't touch that column for the next years. and in the government, either you don't use that money at all and you remodel that bathroom. but getting the priorities in order, updating what we need to do, if we take these bills to the floor as the new appropriations chairman, senator mccull sky and senator shelby, the leading republican on that committee would do, take those bills to the floor like we did for 30 years in a row and let any member of the senate or house and bring a amendment as they would like to spend the money to the best of their ability, defend the bill they brought to the floor, but occasionally members come up with something better than you thought of to spend that $10 million and that's how you set priorities. so one thing about the system

working again, we have set the bar now so low that we surely can get over it. we can chin that bar because it's not a very high bar. if we go back to the normal way of doing things -- you know, to legislate, we don't have to a total rewrite of the tax code to do better than we have been doing. we can look at the pro-job-creating bills. surely some of those could pass the senate. we could look at these manufacturing things that a number of us are involved in a bipartisan way, and energy will drive manufacturing. more american energy doesn't just create the jobs that produce the energy. all kinds of jobs begin to be created if you are confident about the future of the utility bill, if you know the delivery system is going to be there

because you figured out how to make that part of the process work in a better and more dependable way, all kinds of things will happen if we get busy and do the things we need to to get the economy going. >> in the house, you were the number three leader, majority whip when i was covering the house. you never listened a vote on the floor. what do you think the chances on immigration are this year and you were telling me this year you feel strongly that doing immigration in pieces does make sense? >> i do, and when i was the majority whip in the house, that's when the republicans were in the majority of the house we didn't lose bills on the floor but we never passed bills. two bills in all the time i was in the majority whip six years passed without democrat votes. that means hundreds and hundreds of bills passed with some democrats voting for every single them.

two times in six years that we passed a bill that didn't have democrat votes. i think that could be right. i have to look and see, but there's more division, and part of that is that there's no sense that this bill is going to find its way to the president's desk. it's a different ask when you are asking members to vote for something that is going to become law, that is actually going to change the country and then say let's vote on this because we want to make a statement. but on immigration, i have said this for a long time, there are at least three distinct questions to be answered, how do we secure the border, both at the workplace and the actual border in a better way? what are the legitimate workforce needs of the country? and what do you do with people who came illegally or stayed illegaly. and 50-50 came without documents

and some came here illegally and then they just stayed. what do you do with those people and my vote is or my view is, rather, that the same majority in the house and senate that are the best majority to come up to question one, how do you secure the border, may not be the best 218 people in the house or 50 in the senate to come up with the answer, what are the workforce needs in the country and what do you do about people that came. you are going to get a better solution to all those problems if you'll deal with them one at a time than to try to deal with them collectively. a l and on many occasions, difficult problems had to be broken up and solved in pieces

to get the best solution rather than just a solution and what we should want here would be the best answer to all of those questions, not just -- we don't want any answer unless we answer them all at once, is that the right goal or the right goal how do we get the best answer to this challenge. >> one of your roles for leadership is working with members on the importance of social media. what are you telling members what they need to be doing this year? >> we have seen such a revolution in the way people communicate in the last decade and probably in the last three weeks. there is some communicating thing going on right now that i'm not even aware of and interestingly, the closer that members have to running for election and six years in the senate is a long time. the closer they have run, they appreciate all the different ways people want to communicate with you.

and every one of the senators now is doing things -- republican senators with media they weren't doing a couple of years ago. >> is it hard to convince some of them? do you have to prod some of them? >> once their staffs gets into this as well, it matters. i started three years ago telling a story -- i think it was in one of the books about lyndon johnson but a story about sam rayburn and when he was a young member of congress, he probably had a staff of maybe two or three but told his staff how do -- he said if people write us a handwritten letter, i want you to write them a handwritten letter back. if they type us a letter, i want you to type the letter back and i'll sign it. he said if they write it on a big chief tablet, i want you to write a letter on a big chief

tablet. what he was saying, i want to communicate with people the way they communicate with us. it would work more efficiently if you respond the way people communicate with you. the number of letters we get in our office trying to communicate in all different ways, we don't get many letters anymore. and many of the questions that people ask, they don't need to get a complicated answer. if they say is senator blunt for or against this bill. our correspondents who do most of that and i say what do you need to know that you don't know. and i say to them, if someone says says am i for or against a bill, say yes or no. probably half the time that's plenty of answer for them. and if it's not the right answer, they'll challenge you back and say why is he not for

this bill and then you have that discussion. but yes or no is all they need, say yes or no and go onto the next question and let's communicate with people the way they want to communicate with s. >> how many books to you read in a year? >> i read a lot of books in a year. probably read more books than probably health care legislation. . . i think we can agree that is a great practice. those of you on c-span and on live stream. >> thank you. good to see you.