argument, we will see hospitals and the changing role of hospitals. i look forward to being part of changes and role being part of the immediate challenges by trying to make sure we start some new program and don't make it impossible to provide quality health care that american hospitals have been providing and will continue to provide. the key for letting me come this morning. [applause] things you'll. all for letting me come this morning. at 12:40 p.m., we will have live coverage of this year's final day of the conservative political action conference. with former house speaker newt gingrich, conservative columnist ann coulter and former alaska governor sarah palin. you can watch them all live, beginning at 12:40 p.m. on c-span and let us know what you

think on facebook or twitter. >> one of the most critical things the agency does is to enforce the federal securities laws to make sure wall street buys -- abides by the rules. the right the rules for wall street and brokers and investment advisers but we don't have the criminal authority. we have the authority to bring and negligence actions against those who violate the federal securities laws. we can't send anybody to jail. but we can assess civil penalties. our level of penalties is not as high as we were lucky it to be. there is a legislation in congress to give us the ability to assess higher penalties and require those who commit wrongdoing to disgorge their ill-gotten gains that they make

from their wrongdoing. and to bar somebody from the securities industry so they can't live another day to defraud again. white, sunday night at 8:00. c-span. we bring public affairs events from washington directly to you. putting you in the room at white house events, briefings and conferences and offering complete gavel to gavel coverage of the u.s. house all is april . we are c-span. created by the cable tv industry 35 years ago. watch us in hd. like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. >> winners of the student cam competition have been chosen.

there is more about the winners and our annual contest. >> this is one of our favorite times of the year at c-span. the time when we get to announce the winners of our annual student documentary contest. it is called student cam. the 2014 theme for students who are interested in entering is what is the most important issue that congress should consider in 2014? this year we received a record number of entries. 2355 entries that came from 46 states, the district of onvia, taiwan, and from the united arab emirates. students from around the country and some internationally. 4816 students participated either individually or in teams. one of the things that was special about the contest is we doubled the number of prizes and the amount of money. it went from a $50,000 contest

to us giving away 100,000 dollars in prizes. that meant 150 for student documentarians, 50 prizes for teachers, and 97 students who received honorable mention. the grand prize this year, $5,000 for the winning entry. there are three first plase high school injuries divided regionally and each one of those top winners in the regions will receive $3000 and there is one first lace at the middle school level also receiving $3000. one of the reasons we do this is to hear what is on the minds of young people and the topics that students choose are a good way to measure what they are thinking about. here is the list of the top categories, top issues we received from students. number one, kids are thinking about the economy and they told us about this and their message to congress. second was gun legislation. third on the minds of students was education and education issues.

the next in line were documentaries about the environment and the next after that to my immigration. we will tell you about the grand prize winners this year. it was a team area their topic was called earth first, fracking second. it was a three person team from long beach polytechnic high school. they are served by charter communications. the three team members in that group, we will be talking by phone with one of the members of the team, emma larson, right now. what was your reaction when you heard that your team won the grand prize this year? >> we were shocked. we were in the room and we looked across at one another and we all could not believe it. >> when you finished the documentary, did you have a sense of how good it was? >> no, we did not. >> tell me how you got

interested in the first place. who introduced you to it? >> our ninth grade government teacher. >> how did your team come together, were you able to pick who served or did the teacher assign them? >> we did pick our team members and we chose other people that we have known and we were comfortable and knew that we worked well together. >> when you joined forces had any of you done documentaries before? >> no. >> how did the learned how to do them? >> we watched a lot of videos about how to make the documentaries and tips about editing and things like that. >> how did you choose the topic? >> we chose the topic by in our government class we have to complete these current events. i read an article about fracking and was immediately interested. one of us, we saw in our local paper and article about fracking and said it was happening two miles away.

we thought that was crazy and when to start researching about it it becomes a fascinating topic. >> long beach has long had an oil industry because it is a big port and there is also a lot of oil drilling. you were surprised to find out that fracking was happening there as well. >> yeah. the thing about fracking it is -- it isn't regulated. there is no techniques, there is no water testing, that is really dangerous. >> is that the primary thing that you learned when you researched fracking? >> yes. >> what is the message you would like to have congress hear from the three of you as young people about fracking? >> we want congress to know that our country has a problem. that problem is the regulation of hydraulic fractionating. there is huge economic potential. it has to be regulated. it has to be safe. >> one of the things is to show both sides of the issue and you

reference the fact that there is great economic and if it. give people listening a sense of why the economic aspect of this is important so you feel we have to get the regulation right. >> according to research published, fracking will create 2.5 million jobs by the year 2020. that is a huge number. that can do great things. we are in the middle of economic bad times and fracking and the oil industry could pull us out of that. >> who was the most interesting person you interviewed? >> terry greenwood. the story of how fracking affected him. we researched people who were being affected and his name kept coming up. he had done so many interviews and youtube videos that he is an expert on the subject.

>> what do you plan to do next with what you have learned either from the younger feed part or from the fracking lesson? >> hopefully we can talk to the local city officials in our city and have them regulate the fracking that is happening two miles away from our house. >> what are you planning to do with the $5,000 and how did your school arc your win? >> with the $5,000 we're putting that to a trip that the three of us will go on after we graduate from high school. our school is recognizing us, they get the money to spend on video cameras for next year and everyone is very excited and we can tell that people are proud of us. >> congratulations to you for your national win. we are proud of all the students that entered. we got some great entries this year. it was terrific that your team was chosen as number one. congratulations. >> thank you.

>> let's tell you more about the other winners that were chosen but before we do that to give you a sense of what the grand prize was like in comparison, let's watch a clip. >> dear congress. >> dear congress. >> dear congress. hydraulic fracturing is really important for the growth of our economy. if you want the critical support of the american people, some things we could change. you need to investigate the impact that -- of hydraulic fracturing on seismic activity and the use of recycled water instead of freshwater. you need to regulate testing of water. most importantly, the halliburton loophole needs to be closed. you need to require public disclosure.

>> just a short glimpse of the student cam winning documentary. with a team of ninth graders from long beach, california. i mentioned there are many winners across the united states and this year we did three regional winners at the high school level. we will tell you more about who won the top prizes for high school. the top prize in high school, diagnosing the problem.

the winners are 12th graders in phoenix, arizona where they are served by cox communications. the topic on mental health diagnosis and treatment. and "we the people: genetically modified." by andrew demeter. time warner cable is their supplier. next, "murky future." and that is a team of 10th-graders from silver spring, maryland. they are served at comcast. their topic was water pollution. the first prize and there is only one of these at the middle school level is on the nsa. that was done by a team of eighth graders from eastern middle school in silver spring, maryland and in the washington, d.c. suburbs. their customers of comcast cable and there's was on the big debate over government surveillance. we congratulate all the entrants.

those prizes are on view for you to see on our website. >> c-span. we bring public affairs events from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at offeringou house events and complete gavel-to-gavel coverage of the u.s. house. by the tv cable industry 35 years ago. watch as in hd. like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. today at 12:40 p.m., we will bring you live coverage of the final day of this year's conservative political action conference. some of the speakers from earlier this week, including senators tom coburn and mitch

mcconnell and former u.s. ambassador john bolton. this is 15 mins. -- this is 50 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome david keene. guest: good morning. i'm going to move over here in just a minute. we will have a conversation about the constitution and whether the congress and the balance that is written into that machinery by james madison and others is working as well as it should and if it's not what might be done about it. will includeions

two people who don't need introduction but i will introduce them anyway. the first one is tom coburn from oklahoma. [applause] who actually came to the senate and has done the hard work that so many congressmen avoid. he has looked at spending and mates pacific proposals about what is and what is not proper spending under our form of government and has tried to make the cuts. that is very hard work. there are darn few members of either the house or the senate who really spend the time necessary to look through it and do that. the senate will miss tom coburn when he retires and goes back to oklahoma at the end of this year. i think he has some things that ---- some of her stations some observations.

he will be joined by george will. conservativemier columnist in the united states today. that's a mantle that was once worn by bill buckley. but george wears that mantle today. i'm very honored that we have sim here today because he ha thought more deeply about these things than most of us have had in all of his observations. he is worth listening to. that, when we finish our conversation, you can tweet to us a question or any questions that you might have. then i will inject those questions into the conversation. george, wetom and

will sit over here. [applause] thank you for being with us today. in the course of the last couple of years, there is been a -- there hasrn been a growing concern over the separation of powers. worry about too much power in the executive branch. who revises laws

after they have been passed and sign. a president that announces that if they like a law they will enforce it but if they don't they want. all these things you might want to delve into. the question today is, why is this happening? what can be done about it? we all have a perspective on that. the constitution -- i think most people refer to themselves as constitutional conservatives. the constitution provides a mechanism for government that is much like capitalism. to take imperfect human beings and pit them against each other and come up with a system that will harness agreement or cancel it out as they vie for power with the results that we have a limited government and people will be free. over the course of the last few decades, as we have built an administrative state and had president after president ask

power, what is happening to our system? what do we need to do to bring it back? george, i'll ask you to start. thing i would say is mr. obama has taken a lot of pre-existing trends and made them worse. we need to understand that s would slide a bill and say, i hereby sign this bill except i don't intend to enforce x, y and z. this is a problem that is older than the republic. we were founded in reaction against executive overreach. the prerogatives of the british. the declaration of independence is a litany of complaints about executive overreach.

conservatism in its modern form was born in reaction against to overreaching presidents. and lyndon roosevelt johnson. there was a conservative preference for congressional supremacy. one of the great text of modern conservativism was congress and the american tradition, which during his time at the review. the healthy position of presidential power tended to weaken among conservative presidents. one of the things conservatives need to do is reacquire power.on of executive begin by visiting the national athives where when you look the parchment copy of the constitution you will see that half of the constitution is article one because congress is

the first branch of government in so many ways. understandes have to that as long as government reseedcongress'sway will as more power leaks into the bureaucracy. they will be too busy to say what it means and pass laws that are more like sentiments. that we have adequate public education and will turn power over to the education department to write 20,000 pages of regulations to tell congress the implications of what they have said. finally, conservatives have to turn to the courts and find some friends in the courts. they have to find a way to get the courts to acknowledge that tom coburn should have standing to sue the president if the president is violating the intent of the congress of which he is a member. courts have been really

reluctant to referee arguments between the branches of government and i understand that. but it's time for the congress to make its case and for conservatives to amend their vocabulary. they have been much too dogmatic. what we really want is a properly engaged judiciary. part of that is to referee these violations of separation of powers. >> you have been up there and watch this. [applause] one gets the impression sometimes -- the members of congress actually want the power that they are supposed to covet? there was a proposal recently that suggested an amendment to wouldnstitution that regro require congress but it's fingerprints on regulatory

efforts by the zeta branch. the people involved said they talked to a dozen of commerce minutes he said we don't want that. we don't want to do that. so much has been left to the regulatory authorities within the executive branch that allows to whine about it if we don't pay too much attention. what's your experience in the ?enate the seriousness of people thinking about or be willing to fight for the institutional prerogatives of the body you serve. that is a poorll work ethic and congress. george.with the biggest problem is not specific to what we legislate. -- one of theall first things you do is give the congress -- if we are not going to fulfill our responsibilities to be specific about what our attentions are -- intentions

are, we ought to have the responsibility to cancel out when the regulations and the bureaucracy go way beyond what our intent was. first of all, there is a laziness and a lack of a work ethic. the second is the enumerative powers act. it says you ought to reconnect with the constitution when you legislating. where you have the authority to do this is granted by the enumerated powers. a lot ofe've given up power but is not power that we had to give up. it is power that we are so lazy that we don't want to do the hard-working we had a .eterans bill on the floor the house had 60 hearings on veterans. 34 of them were oversight. the senate had 15. four were oversight. you cannot call them oversight.

where is the work that we are paid to do to protect the constitution? to gain the knowledge with which to solve real problems. that's all a function of the lack of leadership in our congressional bodies. and a lack of director leadership with constitution in mind as to here is how we should go about it. if we truly want to limit the government, it's up to us to force those votes to make us have a limited government and to intent.e congressional the other point i would make is, we are now running not under the rule of law. we are under the rule of rulers. the very thing that binds us together as a nation is confidence in the rule of law. that's where leadership comes in again. poor leadership undermines that. good leadership reinforces that. i think we have given up a lot of power. it does not have to be that way. that's why i think the idea of

any regulation that has an impact of $100 million or more ought to have been approved by congress. is this what you intended? did you mean to labor on $100 million to the economy? >> what about, as you watch as seet's going on now, you -- this did not start with barack obama. toe power was surrendered past presidents from both parties. it -- if the congress is not willing to stand up, individual congressmen don't -- it's hard to get standing when there is a blatant violation of the constitutional provision to go to the courts to do anything about it. do you think should be done? what kinds of changes should be done.

back in the 1980's when we had the budget amendment, the chairman of the group that was in favor of it, a moderate congressman from new york, he was asked by in york times reporter, why would you be for the? he said because i serve this body. there is not going to be any change. it has to be disciplined institutionally and structurally forced upon the body. the design of the constitution was that these people, as the congress tried to grab power and executive try to grab power, all of that would work out. it does not seem to be working out. medicine said -- madison said we seek supply biopsied and rival interests to the defect of veteran motives.

certainly nobody has good motives all the time. that said, as long as the government grows, congress's power will receive. we have had 435 members of the congress. imagine what the government was a century ago. 435 people could actually follow what the government was doing. came to the senate in 1971 and left in 1977. he told me at one point he thinks the work load doubled in his six years there. because -- try to think of something today that is not considered a federal responsibility. you can't. that's a sea change. the great political scientists said that the real change occurred in the 1960's. he located that with the first

passage of the elementary and secondary education act. bewhich, no child left hind is against the ninth iteration. once he crossed the line it's a concern of the federal government. the legitimacy variable was down. there's no way of saying this was not a proper federal responsibility. we have to rethink fundamentally what the federal government is up to and send as much of it as possible back to the states. [applause] >> i talked to jim buckley this week. me that he was celebrating his 91st birthday this weekend. therefore he could not come down. i think you only get to do that once.

you ought to be up there and do it. -- i remember when i came to washington in 1970, i opened up the washington post and they were having hearings in the senate about whether or not football teams should be allowed to play on astroturf. thought, well, if that's part of the responsibility, then so is everything else. hill andd on the served in both houses. to george's point, there is so much in so many things going on that it's very difficult to get your hands on it. part of it is to send that back to revitalize federalism. you sawars after congress worrying about

astroturf, there are people in congress want to legislate on the name of the washington nfl team. so nothing has changed. >> exactly. you can't seem to focus on important things if all of your time is spent on things that you have no business focusing on. which, regardless of how it comes out, has no impact on the freedoms or prosperity of the american people. [applause] the difficulty there is -- this is where the founders were right -- i have often thought, if the politician is in the states, he makes the decision there and he comes to washington and thinks the decisions ought to be made there because most politicians think the decisions ought to be made where he is. ideally, by him. rather than by someone else. >> you're relating to the defect of career politicians. you put your own best interest ahead of what you know the

constitution intended and our founders believed in. we subjugate that to the best interests of a political career. that's why term limits is an absolute must to solve the problems in this country. [applause] the second thing is to hold people look on hold. which we no longer do. thereid you accomplish? should not be one waste book every year. there ought to be 500 35 members doing the oversight and creating o thensparency soap th american people know what's going on. the conflict on both sides of the aisle is, not political, the best interest -- that's where we are today. >> did in the founders assumed they would think that way i go >?

>> i don't think so. i don't think we will get term limits. this is a change in the qualifications for office. therefore, it's a constitutional question. therefore, states can't impose limits on their delegation by statute. therefore, we will not get it because they will never settle. an amendment to the constitution that would limit their careers. there is another way of doing this. born buffett says rightly, we could have a balanced budget by next thursday. if we pass a constitutional amendment that says, no sitting member of congress should be eligible to run for reelection unless there is a balanced budget. ren buffett says it

rightly. [applause] drift will not change the that we were going in. you really do need institutional rearrangements or safeguards or tweak thethat will existing system in a way that will get it back on track as the founders believed ditch work. don't despair of making substantial changes by changing personnel. a personnel is policy. tom me half a dozen coburn's and we would not be up here talking like this. [applause] >> i'm not sure there are a half-dozen. i didn't have any political experience. i would be the last person in my ha high school anybody aould think would be

senator. here is one of our defects in our society today. refused to come and sacrifice their time and money and reputations to make the changes that are necessary here. there is hundreds of thousands of tom coburn's out there. the question is, will they make the sacrifice to, peer and get beat up to do what they know is in the best long-term interest of our country question seekwhat we need to do is those who have all the skill and knowledge and have accomplished so much in the private sector to, peer and contribute to realizing and getting us back in the direction that our founders intended. we usually get people who are wanting to rise on their political career rather than people who want to change what's wrong. we have plenty of people in this country and we need to call on their good nature to come and

sacrifice and help fix our country. [applause] >> there are probably people in this room who fall precisely into that category. who are willing to get out there and make the sacrifices necessary. >> one of the points you are making is, there are limits to what personal can do if they are in the legislative branch. the real problem is that residents have their own momentum -- presidents have their own momentum. if you have a president who is reluctant to restrain himself, he will not be restrained. to that extent, the newtonian togethere founders put is failing right now. partly because of modern instruments of technology and

communication that so favor the single executive. republicans particularly have to be careful who they nominate for president. theirave to ask perspective chief executives, if has some executive cap sense of modesty about the executive branch and the consequent understanding of the dignity of the legislative branch. [applause] >> i agree. >> that's where true leadership matters. just think, if we had a president who could win that it was a conservative who says, i will right size the exec branch. -- we have $250 thaton in programs we don't work. if we had a president who let on that and said i will be toe any appropriation bills that don't

come through. to question is, are we going elect a leader who understands what our real problems are and what the potential solutions are and will exert the leadership and: the country to force congress? i think term limits are possible because i think congressman and senators want to get reelected enough that if the country demanded term limits and they voted against it, they would not get reelected. those that voted for it would and we would get term limits. [applause] things --es these they become partisan rather than principle -- when republicans are in the white house, like when george w. bush was, democrats were complaining accurately that he was seizing more power than the constitution contemplated him having. they get into the white house

and then the republicans complained that they are grabbing more power than is necessary. to what extent -- i was struck this robert --h a liberal who testified for congress and said he believes the country is reaching a tipping point of constitutional power and obligations and he said, i say that as one who supports everything that barack obama wants to do but i think he's doing it in a dangerous way. who,ught about one senator harry reid exercised the so-called nuclear option to get rid of the filibuster said, ok, go ahead and do it. to you when weo are in the majority. that's a danger of changing the arrangements to benefit you and power. to what extent do you think that

there is at least the possibility that there is going to be a broader understanding of the fact that we may be approaching what he calls a tipping point so there will be others joining him trying to do this, regardless of who the don't think? >> i the public understands the problem at this point. if you listen to presidential rhetoric, the presidential rhetoric is in tune with the public expectations. if i'm elected president, i will create jobs. if i am president, i will clean the air. if i'm president -- presidents don't do any of that stuff. the wills ofecute the legislative branch. faithfully execute. it would be lovely to have -- i will vote for the next person who runs saying, if i'm elected, i'm not going to do that much by myself.

[laughter] if i'm elected i will try to work with the representatives of the american people to make modest improvements. the american people let this point are not looking for paradise. they're looking for basic elementary confidence -- competence. the competence of charisma and the charisma of competence may be the secret to electing american public who has a healthy deflation of expectations. poll shows that for the first time in history, more americans are afraid of their government than think the government can do good for them. there is always been some americans who are as paranoid as we are. --appears that a majority >> anti-federalist. taken thatty has position. does that create another atmosphere where it is possible

for somebody to say what you're talking about and say, look, we have had this ride and tried all these things and done all these things and what has been the result of it? nothing has been good for us or future generations. back.cut term limits or regulatory amendments or whatever. or by getting candidates who can appeal along those lines. >> this is a moment to turn to the american people and say, in that is, sprawling blob the federal bureaucracy, how things are there that we don't know about? [applause] happens because it's unchecked power. because congress fails to do its oversight role. [applause] effectively,ngress

from either side of the aisle, effectively creating transparency for the american public, the sunshine will cure most of that. we don't have any. because we don't have the effort put forward in the congress to actually do the vigorous oversight to expose it. the american people aren't stupid. if they see what's going on, they will change it. >> another sign that they are not stupid as they more often than not produce divided government. imagine today if republicans do not control the gavels in one of the houses of congress. at the would be done irs. it's the most intrusive institution of the federal government. it has been turned into the appendage of the ruling party and we would be able to do nothing about this if there were not republican chairman in the house. if the republicans should win the white house, there will be a real case to be made

that good conservatives should want one of the houses of congress to be in the control of the other party for precisely the reason tom is talking about. if you think republicans aren't capable of abusing power, you should have been here when he and i got here. >> back in 1994, a reporter whether hegingrich believed that somehow democrats and more dishonest power-hungry than republicans. it gingrich said no, they've just had 40 years to do it. if we are in for 40 years, it will be just as bad. we had a faster learning curve. [laughter] that -- this is a great concern. positione are in a where some of the things we've

talked about resonate in ways that they would not have decades ago. >> let me take a moment to explain why this happens. there's nobody in this audience who does not want to help people who need our help. right back oh everybody wants to t?lp the peopl everybody wants to help. [applause] e who need help, we want to get them further along so they have opportunity. them talkhear about us as being one to help them. we have ways that don't bankrupt the future -- when this all , the people who will be hurt the most are the people care about the

people who need help. we have a great moral ground to fight from if we would verbalize it. and explain what we mean by that. unemployment insurance to somebody who keeps them from getting the skill or going to work or doing the public service or learning a new trade is not a good thing for that individual. when we help, we ought to be helping, not hindering. amidst the pessimism, there is reason for optimism as well. i have to apologize because the conversation was so interesting you would like to hear that and we are under time constraints. would like to thank you for being with us today because i hope you share the belief that this is one of the most important challenges of this country has because all of the

flow fromlems we have the inability to get this balance right. so thank you very much. [applause] ♪ ladies and gentlemen, please welcome mitch mcconnell. [applause]

>> let's give a big hand to tom coburn for his service to our country. >> thank you very much. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, you know, you can tell the effectiveness of a conservative by the reaction they get. from liberals. liberals absolutely hate it when tom coburn steps onto the senate floor. most one of the smartest, principled, most decent men i have ever served with. [applause] dayeminds all of us every

why it is we decided to run for office in the first place. he is not afraid of anything or anyone. there's another thing about tom coburn. he has never put himself above the cause. if you are up early enough to catch them coming in to work, you will see him emptying his pockets to go through the metal detectors. he does not have to do it, but he does. because that is what his constituents have to do when they visit washington. is the only senator i know who does that every single warning. -- morning. with his clarity of purpose and commitment to principle and courage, tom lives in the truth. i thought inor, would highlight a few truths myself this morning. first of all, the president of the united states is creating our constitution worse than a

placemat at denny's. [applause] time at the so much supreme court tried to stop these guys. i am practically on a first name basis with the bailiff. epa,care, the unconstitutional appointments --it never stops. it is just about power for these people. they will actually do anything to keep it. let me tell you what i mean. two years ago i came right here to cpac and warned that they were using the irs to silence its critics. we found outer, just how devious the plan really was. chuck schumer is advocating for the irs to step up its game. make itits game, to harder for conservatives to exercise their first amendment rights. it is now rage. we're going to fight with everything we have got.

[applause] look, here is the second truth that liberals love to keep secret. president obama and the democratic senate have little relief failed working families. game ine greatest con modern american politics is the idea that more government is good for the little guy. here is the truth. under this president and harry reid, the rich have gotten richer, the poor have gotten poorer, and the middle-class are being squeezed like never before. [applause] they have done next to nothing for the little guy. they have said more spending would create good jobs. they said more taxes on the rich would level the playing field. is said new regulations would punish the big banks. and of course, they said if we

like it, we can keep it. here is the truth. street reforms have shuttered community banks will the biggest banks on wall street have gotten even bigger. small to obamacare, doctor owned hospitals are going out of business while corporate hospitals work out deals with big insurance companies. in obamas economy, the ceo of a major corporation called washington for a tax credit. the little guy is left to scraping together the cash he now needs for an accountant. meanwhile, the media does not even notice. they are too busy trying to fix benghazi for hillary. reid's defense for harry latest smear campaign. can you believe this guy? harry reid has spent two weeks calling american men and women

whose lives have been upended by obamacare a bunch of liars. anever there was advertisement for a republican senate, this is it. [applause] that leads me to my final truth inspired by tom coburn. if i am given the opportunity to lead the senate next year, i will not let you down. [applause] i will leave it with integrity, we will fight tooth and nail for conservative reforms that put this country back on track, we will debate our ideas openly, we will vote without fear, we will govern with the understanding that the future of this country depends upon our success. the best conservative ideas for lifting americans out of poverty will get a hearing. the same old socialist notions that never pan out will finally be put to rest. [applause]

we will work to restore opportunity and economic mobility for the middle class. theill renew our promise to next generation that their future is defined by the person they can become, rather than the conditions they were born into. my friends, never before has it been so hard for the rich to become poor or for the poor to become rich. that is what is un-american. i cannot stand it and you cannot stand it. if we win the majority, i will work every day change it. the senate will be a place that tom can be proud of again. this is our time to get it right. this is the moment. let's go out and do it. thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the honorable senior

fellow at american enterprises. >> thank you, thank you very much. thank you. ladies and gentlemen, we meet at a time of true national security crisis. indeed, many crises. our biggest national security crisis is barack obama. who does notsident believe in american exceptionalism. president who is uninterested in national security and america's place in the world. who considers our strength part of the problem. we are the cause of international tension. this is like looking at the world through the wrong individuals scope. that is barack obama's world. he said in his first speech in september 2009, listen to this,

no world order that elevates one nation or group of nations over another will succeed. no balance of power among nations will hold. this is a belief in multilateralism for american security, the united nations. he is a will sony and. -- wilsonian. wilson said in his famous 14 points speech in 1918 that he achieved -- he wanted to achieve a peace without victory. sound familiar? he said there must not be a balance of power, but a community of power. wilson was not even a community organizer. he wanted to make the world safe for democracy. it is hard to say what obama wants to do. the answer was provided by theodore roosevelt, the republican roosevelt who said --

first and foremost, we are to make the world safe for ourselves. [applause] been the bedrock rentable of conservative national policy. now, it is most assuredly not the time to change it. there are those, even within our movement, who say that america will be safe and not if we do little or nothing. with call this what it is. this is the resurgence of isolationism. analytically, the isolationist and barack obama are coming at problems from different perspectives. the indifference and multilateralism of obama produces the same result as isolationism. neither of these views are attacked america. --protect

america. the democratic party no longer has a security wing. there is no joe lieberman. we cannot let this happen to the conservative movement. ignoring threats to our national security is the obama doctrine. the contrast with ronald reagan could not be clearer. reagan believed in peace through strength, not isolationism. today, can you imagine ronald reagan dealing with vladimir putin? reagan understood that the principal task of the government is the protection of the united states. who said that best but that "thetarian, adam smith, in wealth of nations." duty ofthe first two the sovereign is protecting the society from invasion of other independent societies. reagan called a strong defense budget the vital margin of safety. we are losing the vital margin

of safety all around the world. we are not going to get peace through strength. we are not devoting the budget to it. we are not going to peace through weakness either. we will get what we see today in the ukraine. vladimir putin has a strategy and obama has nothing. to has a growing defense budget and ours is striking -- shrinking. look at the middle east. russia's puppet, assad, is still in power. there are threats to our best ally in the region, israel. iran is working with russia and running rings around obama, clinton, and carry. -- kerry. islatin america, russia reestablishing influence in cuba and venezuela, threatening our own hemisphere. it is not just a russia that is the problem. in china, there a major military

buildup. they're building their first blue water naval capabilities in 600 years. obama scoffs at our were declining navy. missile program growing rapidly. china has the best cyber warfare capability of any country on earth. they have anti-satellite weapons that can blind us. the threat of nuclear proliferation from iran is threatening our friends and allies. threatening us here at home. this progress towards nuclear weapon capability and the threat of international terrorism which the president does not want to believe in. he could not care less about it. terrorism and the threat of nuclear proliferation go together. when al qaeda struck the united states on 9/11, we did not hesitate to overthrow the taliban regime in afghanistan. when afghanistan had nuclear weapons?

it would've been a very different picture. if iran gets nuclear weapons, this country, the central banker of international terrorism, will have impunity to strike with attacks all around the world, and cute --including in the united states. of nationalctor intelligence testified that the terrorist threat is the same today as it was on 9/11. we can see it where they black flag of al qaeda flies again. we press our ally, israel, to make concessions to the palestinians. we threatened if they do not do it. worst of all, is libya. libya is the paradigm of the obama doctrine failures. on attack in benghazi september 11, 2012 was a direct attack on the united states. personal a president's

representative is our ambassador. the killing of christopher stephens was not just the murder of an american citizen, it was the murder of the president's personal representative in libya. since then, the president has done nothing to offend chris stevens'death. [applause] this is a terrible lesson. this is a terrible lesson for our adversaries to learn. under barack obama, you can murder his personal representative and get away scott free. i want to let everybody know that conservatives are not going to let this issue go away. [applause] we will be happy to tell hillary clinton in unmistakable terms, we know what difference it makes, even if you do not. [applause]

thank you. ladies and gentlemen, conservatives need to take this year and the next two to mobilize the overwhelming majority of men --american to believe we as we do. we do not believe that america is weakened declining. we do not accept an america that is weak and poorly equipped. we do not accept an american president who is weak, and indecisive, and apologetic about our country. [applause] we must return a national security to the center of our political debate throughout 2014 and the presidential election of 2016. that is why i have established a pac of candidate to understand the importance of a strong american posture in the world.

conservatives must remember the policies and the victories of ronald reagan. we can and must replace the biden clinton, kerry, doctrine of defeatism with a reaganized foreign policy. [applause] that is the key to success this november and in 2016. that is the key to ensuring americans freedom and security in the years ahead. thank you very much. [applause] those were some of the speakers yesterday at cpac. we will take you back there in 30 minutes. for remarks by newt gingrich as er ands ann coult finishing up with alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate, sarah palin.

michele bachmann spoke earlier this morning. here are some of her remarks. >> i just want to say this morning, we will have a woman for president, just the right one. [applause] do not forget, we are the party, the only party that had a woman on the presidential ticket this century. and in the last race in 2012, we are the only party with a woman for president --her goal was to dismantle obamacare and ensure that iran never has a nuclear weapon. lotother party talks a about nominating a woman in 2016. that is fine. she is going to have a lot of tough questions that she is

going to have to answer. she is going to have to answer one in particular question. like when she gave that reset button to russia, did she not think that they would use it? because they are busy resetting the boundaries of ukraine even as we speak. when the phone call came in the 3:00 our, when she found out that americans in benghazi were under attack, she did not have to answer tough questions -- andshe pick up the phone call the secretary of defense and president of the united states and demand that they send a military rescue operation into benghazi to rescue americans under fire? answergoing to have to another tough question. she is going to have to explain why she blames a hollywood filmmaker, who is doing nothing

more than exercising his first amendment right, rather than the al qaeda inspired terrorists who conducted the attack. she has a lot to explain. >> we will have live coverage from cpac coming up that 12:40. new gingrich is scheduled to speak at that time. you can let us know in your thoughts. go to our facebook page or send us a tweet. former speaker arrives, here are some of yesterdays highlights. formerckabee and a member of the national security council from the late 1980's, oliver north. >> he is a retired u.s. air force colonel from louisiana, a combat veteran and survivor of the 9/11 attack on the pentagon.

[applause] you.ank when i got an opportunity to introduce the speaker, i was excited. said about auy who week ago, " everybody knows that there are no red lines for this administration." obamaed that president draws with a pink crayon. i cannot find a crayon down here. there has been a run on them at all the stores. it made me think, i hope he adds a . mr. president, put the pink crayon down. in all seriousness, american

warriors share a common bond. even if they have never met. i have been observing oliver anth since i was e-1, enlisted airmen and the united states air force. what i have observed him doing is standing on principles, fighting for the united states of america, fight for his troops . i have done that my entire 30 year career and i am very proud to be a part of the same a united states military that colonel north as part of. he is the academy -- epitome -- [applause] >> he is the academy of the phrase that many of you have heard in the recent movie "lone survivor." you are never out of the fight. marine, a patriot, and

american hero, and a friend to every combat soldier, sailor, airman, marine around the world in harm's way. ladies and gentlemen, colonel oliver north. [applause] >> thank you. thank you for that kind introduction. fox news offered me the option of being here or in kandahar. i am grateful to be here. i am a representative of obamacare, i heard it was your responsibility, you young people, to buy into the program to help old people like me. get with it. [laughter] 13 years since i started reporting on and documenting what our american heroes do.

i have described them as the finest military force the world has ever known. [applause] our military, in the hindu kush, mesopotamia, africa, the persian gulf, the indian ocean, all of them are the stars of what they have done in my reports and my books. they really are the bravest and best of a generation. they are, as i described them to be, america's heroes. [applause] i would like to remind young people that heroes are not the people who catch passes in the end zone or set olympic records. even those who appear on comic books and creations of television in a spandex suit and a cape. my heroes wear flak jackets and combat boots and flight suits.

they worked in the most difficult races on the planet earth. real heroes are selfless. they put themselves at risk for the benefit of others. that is the classical definition of heroes. since 9/11/01, 2.4 million young americans have forfeited the comforts of home and have gone into harms way like you see on that screen. for the first time since the american revolution, every single person serving in uniform is a volunteer. it has never happened since, it is happening now. today's troops are the brightest, best educated, trained, let, and equipped military force the world has ever known. they rarely get the accolades they deserve. today's troops did not volunteer to fight for gold or colonial conquests or, quite frankly, the international community.

they volunteered to protect us from an enemy that is dying to kill us. they put themselves at risk every day. they and their families have made sacrifices for all of us. they deserve better than a commander in chief, garbed as a nobel laureate, trotting around the world, kowtowing to foreign leaders and apologizing for america. [applause] they deserve a commander-in-chief who knows america, the greatest force for good the world has ever known, has no thing ever to apologize for. not once. [cheers and applause] the members of our armed forces deserved better than being

treated like laboratory rats in a social experiment. the people of ukraine are at this very minute paying the terrible price for america's leadership deficit disorder. and the obama organization's utopian rushed to unilateral disarmament. we do not need a head of state who guts our defenses and draws phony red lines with a pink crayon. yeah, i did say that. our leaders should be trusted by our allies. if not feared, at least respected by our adversaries. between now and 2016, when we hire a new commander in chief, we need a majority in congress who will insist on the role of law in washington. [applause]

i want to make this very personal to the young people in here. you and your children are threatened by a mountain of debt, unconstrained spending, ever higher taxes, and a headlong rush to socialism. our congress must hold accountable and administration that offers the protection of constitution to our enemies but strips those same protections from our own people. we need a congress that will stop this administration from perpetrating assaults on free enterprise, private property, and civil liberties in our bill of rights. we need a congress that will use the power of the purse to defend our national sovereignty, our borders, and stop the obama team from suborning our nation's wealth and saying we cannot use our own national resources. the obamacare debacle is the the

tip of the incompetence in washington."we the people," the first three words of our constitution, can demand accountability for a string of coverups starting with benghazi, the irs, and government spying on american citizens and reporters. "we the people" is not a political slogan. it is a commitment and a way of life. it must be if we are going to improve things. [applause] a commitment is not just what we say. commitments are what we do. the framers who crafted our constitution were counting on "we the people" to hold government accountable. some say we must ignore social issues like the definition of marriage, the sanctity of life,

and religious freedoms. those are deeply moral and spiritual issues. they should be part of america's elections. [applause] in the 1850's, a political party was born on the idea of a great moral issue -- human bondage. the abolition of slavery in america. if we as conservatives ceased to be a place where people of faith and those who believe in strong moral values can come, we will cease to be a political force in america. america's greatness was founded on the shoulders of people who staked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor on a creator who endowed us with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of

happiness. he also said we have responsibilities. and so, i ask you to take on the task of inspiring our countrymen. to dismiss and reject ideas like unilateral disarmament. to achieve peace. to try to spend our way out of debt. reject the idea of regulating our way to prosperity or surrendering our sovereignty to secure our nation's future. i urge you to commit to assert the moral authority of a free people. the next election is 243 days away. make a commitment here at cpac to elect a congress who will preserve america's freedoms. the opportunities that our nation has become great in offering others. that will stand up for the liberties granted to us by our

creator and enshrined in our constitution. we owe that much to the young americans who put their lives at risk for us. the president i was blessed to serve told us that we have a rendezvous with destiny. he asked us to commit to ensure that we remain a nation of, by, and for the people. that will not perish from the earth. the words of that first republican president who lifted those words from the bible. if we want america to remain the land of the free, we must make a commitment here. and show friends, domestic and otherwise, and adversaries here and abroad that we are not just the land of the free. we are still the home of the brave. come visit freedom alliance, our booth is outside. join us in helping america's heroes.

god bless you and thank you for being here. semper fi. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, founder and president of life outreach international. ♪ >> it is my privilege to introduce a man who came to work for me in his early 20's. i was in my early 30's. a baptist evangelist hired a young ministerial student from southwestern seminary who believed in the supernatural. little did he realize what he can to work with me that he would confirm the fact that iron must always sharpen iron. but in order to do so, it comes together like this, but not like this. that is what you must learn as the people with the truth to set

us free and keep us free. when mike huckabee came to me, we found ourselves praying for a nation in distress. the result of a prayer meeting called by billy graham. we pray that we would send one of our sunday school teachers back to his class in georgia and send an actor from hollywood by the name of ronald reagan to the white house. [applause] mike huckabee helped build the momentum for that supernatural, absolutely essential miracle. we need another one like that today. here is a man who loves god, his family, faith and the freedom that we all cherish. welcome a man who knows how to lead and difficult times. welcome governor mike huckabee. [applause] ♪ >> thank you very much. what an honor to be here.

i want to say thanks to a dear friend, james robinson, more than just a friend and employer, but a true mentor to me at an important part of my life. i have been given 10 minutes to get this done. there is a lot more in my wagon than i am going to be able to unload. [laughter] typically, newsbreaks on fox are longer than 10 minutes. it takes barack obama longer than 10 minutes every day just to complain about fox news every press conference he has. i am not going to be able to take the time to tell you the things i think or believe. i want to share with you some things i feel like i can say that i know. i know there is a god, i know

that this nation would not exist had he not been the midwife of its birth. [applause] this nation exists by the providence of his hands. if this nation forgets our god, god will have every right to forget us. ruth graham bell, the wife of dr. billy graham, in the 1970's made a profound statement. she said 40 years ago if god does not bring fiery judgment on america, he will have to apologize to sodom and gomorrah. she said that a long time ago. i hope we repent before we ever have to receive his fiery judgment. i know that he is. i believe that a nation that can remember him as a nation that will be remembered by him. no other way to explain our history other than by his hand of providence.

i hope that is something americans are never ashamed of and afraid to speak. no, it is not politically correct and embraced by those who control to mecca farms. in the hearts of most americans, we know it to be true. i know there is not one country on this planet with whom we have a better relationship today than we did five years ago. for all of the bluster our president gave telling us how he would play the flute and the snakes would be charmed, the snakes are running all over the world. there is not one country anywhere with whom we have a better relationship than we did before. that is not where america needs to be and it is not where the world needs to be. something else i know -- you can't keep your doctor, you can't keep your insurance, your insurance is not less than

before obamacare. republicans have a better idea. than taking those who cannot find insurance and putting them in a special pool that makes it possible for those with severe developmental disabilities. people with extraordinary medical costs. but not at the expense of changing the insurance market where nobody can afford it and all the part-time workers stay part time. full-time workers become part-time. people who used to try to grow businesses to everything they can to keep their businesses under 50. that is not how to build a healthy economy. [applause] i know that mothers and fathers raised better children than governments ever will. we need to tell the government thank you, we had the children and we will raise the children.

[cheers and applause] we do not need you picking everything from their menu to where they go to school. in the case of the young lady from massachusetts. what a shame that the government knows better than the mother and the father. there is something wrong when a government kidnaps children from their families. [applause] i also know that four americans were murdered at benghazi and our government lie to us. it had not one thing to do with some ridiculous video. i know something else -- with all due respect to hillary clinton -- it does make a difference why they died and who did it. [applause] i thank you for that, but do not clap all my time away. i know the irs is a criminal enterprise.

it has become a matter of cancer in this country. the best way to get the irs off our backs and out of our lives is to enact a fair tax that will eliminate the irs once and for all. no longer will they be intimidating americans who are conservative. i know that life begins at conception. [cheers and applause] a society that sacrifices its own children is no better than the ancient philistines. our country was built on the notion that all of us are created equal. every person has intrinsic worth and value. and that no person is worth less than another and therefore no person is worth more than another. we all have value. none of us are disposable. none of us are expendable, every

life should be treated with dignity and respect. i know that people in uniform deserve better than to come home from having fought the wars we have sent them to fight and then to be told that they have to wait in line for months before they will be able to receive treatment they were promised. whether for ptsd or a physical ailment with visible scars. this nation must make sure that the first fruits of its treasury goes to those who have served in uniform. everyone of us must stand behind them before we receive anything from this government. [applause] i also know that freedom is better than tyranny. i also believe that a government that spies on its people and allies to its people is taking

us on a trajectory toward tyranny. it must be changed and changed now. i know that the only time of vladimir putin shivers is when he has his coat off and a cold russian winter. he is not the least bit worried about we think of him or what we may pretend that we are going to do to him. we have unloaded our own guns. no one trusts us no one listens to us no one respects us and no one fears us. it our treatment of our one true ally between all of africa and asia, the land of israel, has been mistreated by the government. we put pressure on the iranians

to stop building bombs that are pointed toward us. that is insanity. i know it and you know it as well. [applause] i know that peace is not the result of a military that is dismantled. it is so awesome and its capability and its readiness and its sheer force. no one earth dares to poke it. a military like that is what we will never actually have to use. it provides a fearsome inhibitor to those that would ever seek to provoke it. the projections of our government in taking down the

military away from a point of readiness, that does not make the world a safer place. it is the duty and responsibility of the government to make us safer and more secure and not less. this i know and this you know as well. [applause] i know the first amendment guarantees the right of free speech. it guarantees the right of a free press. it guarantees religious liberty for every person. it was prohibited of the government to dictate how much faith a person can have and to what extent a person can believe. the government says it is ok to have faith but only this much because when you have this much it may conflict with something government has passed, it is time for the government to scale back. [applause] religious liberty should be unimpeded in this nation. the second amendment is the only last resort we have ins