rang out. people fled prominent by scrambling down scaffolding erected for renovation. at least 30 shots were heard inside the building. emergency responders still on the scene. paramedics took the wounded soldier away in an ambulance. comes two days before two canadian soldiers were run over and one of them killed by a man with jihadist sympathies. one gunman is dead and another one got away on a motorbike. parliament continues on lockdown. this remains an active story. now at the national press club for a report on youth homelessness can read cyndi lauper is among the guest speakers.

it will begin life in a moment. moment.ina a a

>> we will be starting momentarily. >> we are live at the national

press club awaiting the start of an event this afternoon on the health and human services department announcement on the findings of a report on youth homelessness. we expect to hear from singer cyndi lauper. she will be joining department officials and former homeless youth. democratvering the top , henry waxman discussing global health care policies at georgetown university. that starts at 2:20 eastern today. we will hear from janice rogers brown about the u.s. constitution. she is on the federal appeals court district of columbia circuit. that starts at 5:30 eastern.

[no audio] again come alive this afternoon at the national press club, awaiting the start of this event looking at a report on youth homelessness this afternoon.

we are told that zynga cyndi lauper will be joining on this panel. she is running a little bit late and that could be the reason we are delayed. [no audio]

[no audio]

[no audio] >> good afternoon, everyone.

thank you for joining us. we celebrate this 40th and hearry of the act about the important effort to end youth homelessness. of thee acting secretary administration for children and families in the department of health and human services. we are recognizing the only federal anti-homelessness initiative aims specifically at young people. the programs authorized by the runaway and homeless youth act at the administrations for children and families. are celebrating the hundreds of community-based programs around the country that have worked hard for these past 40 years to end youth homelessness. we are celebrating the accomplishments of the young people themselves and we want to stress are tremendous appreciation to cyndi lauper,

for the work she has done on these issues and for joining us and speaking with us today. thank you for being a part of this. sincehave come along way 1974 run the -- when the runaway and homeless youth act was first signed. youthsit was signed, were routinely viewed as delinquents come up at in detention centers or jailed. act enables youth serving organizations across the country to move young people into stable housing, provide vital services, such as family and individual counseling, education support and career training. in 2013, more than 30,000 young weree across the country served by emergency shelters that enable them to have a safe place to stay, help them return to their families or a number --

another stable living situation. another 3322 young people funded transitional living programs that year. could not return home because of severe family conflicts, abuse or a host of other issues. transitional living gave them a place to stay, their own apartment, continue education, embark on careers, deal with mental health or substance abuse, trauma or other issues that hampered social and emotional well-being. of theseate goal programs is to prepare youth to become independent and support themselves and in some case, their own children. ateet youth are particularly risk for sexual exploitation and trafficking. street outreach programs in 2013 in more than 100 communities

made contact with youth more than 600,000 times ending up toothbrushes, socks, sandwiches water, referral to clement chose with the goal of helping to get youth off the street and out of harms way. ,he national hotline in chicago national runaway safe line, answered more than 200 calls per day from youth and concerned adults offering an important lifeline. while thousands of people are helped every year by the programs, there is more to be done. far too many young people experience homelessness each year. housing andnt of urban development estimates that on a single night in january of 2013, there were 46,924 unaccompanied children, teens, and young adults experiencing

homelessness in the united states. an important step toward ending youth homelessness is getting better data and getting a better understanding about why young people become homeless, what happens when they are homeless, and what services they need. i'm pleased to introduce my colleague, the director of the division of adolescent development and support, to talk about an important new study of street youth conducted in partnership with street outreach program grantees in 11 cities across the country. [applause] thank you. good afternoon, everyone. i'm very excited to be here to share some of the findings. we conducted the first of a kind study with youth living on the streets and 11 cities.

a lot of our street outreach programs were able to conduct interviews and focus groups with youthsyouth totaling 656 ages 14-21. the executive summary of the study is actually my understanding is available outside the room. feel free to pick one up. somented everyone to have highlights of the study in preparation for the 40th anniversary of the runaway and homeless youth act and for national runaway prevention month. we anticipate the full report will be out by the end of the year. why is this study important? the data from the study provide a huge steppingstone in learning needs of a subset of street homeless youth. implicationsbroad

because they confirmome of the findings we have seen in other studies and we also know we are hearing some of these information from the field. the study also helps demystify some of the misconceptions we have of young people who are homeless. i will spend a couple of minutes talking about the misconceptions. misconception number one. our study found that getting off the street is difficult. study participants had been homeless on and off for a total of about two years. two years of wondering where they are going to sleep each night, where their next meal might come from, instead of focusing on school and developing job skills and experiencing those teenage lessons that they can use to develop socially and emotionally.

more than half of the self reported that they tried to get to a shelter for safe housing, but the beds were not available. youthsan one in four said they had no transportation to get to a shelter. young people are not just homeless and cities. fair homeless in and suburbs and immoral areas for little or no transportation -- areas where rural may deliver -- areas and little or no transportation. given night in january 2014, there were a total of 4000 beds available for those under the age of 18 who were homeless. the same point in time show that there were nearly 6000 200 unaccompanied minors experiencing homelessness on a given night in january 2013. this means that more than 2000

miners did not have a place to sleep. we do not have enough heads. the second misconceptions i would like to address are that young people are on the street living a life of freedom away from adults. people, homelessness is not freedom. it is hunger and fear and not having a place to sleep. young people are victimized at high rates. 60% reported they had been raped, beaten up, or robbed. the third misconception i would like to address is that homeless young people are bad or want to be out on their own without adult support. study, more than half of homeless youth became homeless for the first time because they were asked to leave home by a parent or caregiver. nearly a quarter became homeless because they were being physically abused her beaten. participants

reported being gay, lesbian, or bisexual. reported being% transgender. we think it is telling that lgbt youth who are so overrepresented among the group of street youth that we interviewed. the fourth and final misconception that i would like to address is that homeless youth don't have aspirations. in addition to wanting basic things like shelter and transportation, more than half of the young people said they needed services to advance their education. more than 70% said they needed employment services. when young people get these types of support, they can succeed. today, we are going to hear from three resilient young people in just a few minutes.

at this point in time, i have the privilege of introducing the of the unitedctor states interagency council on homelessness who will talk more about what we need to do to and youth homelessness by 2020. thank you. [applause] >> thank you for the introduction and for your incredible partnership. i'm honored to be here today. it is vitally important that we keep shining the spotlight on youth homelessness, keeping this issue front and center. ending youth homelessness is a social justice issue. in each of our cities and towns, there are young people who face the unimaginable risk of exploitation, abuse, countless traumas that threaten not only their immediate health and well-being, but they can inflict

long-term damage. everyone from the federal government to people like cyndi lauper and the true colors fund to use providers in america and every school, we all have the shared responsibility and opportunity to be the caring adults who bring young people back to safety, back to stable housing. helping them establish permanent connection and improving outcomes in education, employment, and well-being. because of the very nature of youth homelessness, what we know about it is limited and improving the data is vital. that is where the release of this new study is so important. this effort adds to the understanding we have. what gets measured gets done. which is why getting to a confident estimate of the size of the population is critical. the federal government is working now to get the quality

of data to where it needs to be refocused focused efforts to improve the annual point in time counts for youth. while better data is critical to solving the problem, there were a things that we can do now today to improve the life and outcomes for youth. we need to make some changes. we need to be smarter about how we understand and meet the needs of youth. we need to work together to connect youth with the resources and assistance they need in a meaningful and systematic way. we can take action today to identify and use the touch points that we have to more effectively understand and meet the needs of young people. this report gives us that much more to work with. no single program is a magic pill. no agency alone can and homelessness, but many play an important part. when a young person is in crisis

, it is not fragmented by government programs, it is whole and it is overwhelming. --n solutions are fluids viewed through the lens of programs, the scope is often narrowly defined by whether it is part of a school or law enforcement, juvenile justice, protective services. we often find ourselves in a areation where many responsible in part, but nobody is responsible for the whole. , it is a system in place impossible for people to understand. this has to change and we are focused on changing it. programs have to bake -- break out of silos and put youth at the center of their work. this is how we solve complex social problems. we have the necessary and extraordinary mission of agenciesing 19 federal working with states, communities, private sector,

nonprofit organizations throughout the country on efforts to prevent and end homelessness. the obama administration launched opening doors, the first adderall -- ever federal and strategic plan and measurable goals to end homelessness among veterans and their families by the end of 2015, to end chronic homelessness in 2016, two and homelessness among youth and among children by 2020. since 2010, we have changed the trajectory in our country. we have establish a trend line toward ending homelessness across each of our goals. we know now that homelessness is not an intractable problem. it is a problem we can solve and when we are solving. since 2010, we have reduced homelessness among veterans by a third nationwide. we have made significant problems in ending veteran homelessness because we knew from years of study and research

what interventions worked and with bipartisan support from congress we asked for and received the resources to meet the needs. with veteran homelessness as a proof point, we are making the case for our youth as well. we have a framework to and youth homelessness where we set a path to progress. not made bys was government alone, but in partnership with stakeholders across the country. we are stronger and more effective when we work together toward the shared vision that every young person deserves a safe and stable place to call home, which is why i am so honored to introduce the next speaker. i truly admire. her passion and dedication to whom she calls her kids is an inspiration and a force that is moving our work with greater urgency and focus. to many she is a grammy, emmy, and tony award-winning artist. ,o thousands of young people she is an unwavering advocate

for equality. in 2008, she cofounded the true colors fund, which works to end gay and lesbian bisexual and transgender youth homelessness. herou weeks ago, i heard speak about choosing a path for the true colors fund where she describes the choices for the directions the organization took raise awareness of the issues and share breast practices or to roll up their sleeves and do the hard work of ending youth homelessness. she and her amazing team chose the latter. one thing i appreciate about cindy us or emphasis on the importance of learning from young people about what matters and how to make a difference. i'm grateful that we will get to hear from jesse, anthony today. we can take a lesson from the disability rights movement of nothing about us without us through this conversation today. i am on or to introduce to you now the one and only cyndi lauper. [applause]

>> ok. grateful that everybody came here today to celebrate the anniversary, the 40th anniversary of the runaway and homeless youth act. i know that i'm known as an entertainer or a small gal with a big voice array bigmouth. mouth. big i decided a while back to use my voice to be a voice for the voiceless. kids had madese me abbreviate, explain the

abbreviations, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth which make up up to 40% of the homeless young people in this alarming --n the what got me was that, what would you say? up to 7% of the general population of youth in this country identify as gay or transgender. in layman's terms. that to me is alarming because that means the kids are being thrown away. because of who they are. i think we need these kids. know who isnever going to turn out to be what there is a bill. i can repeat the same stuff that lisa and laura just told you.

the one thing that our fund or organization does is try to make for all of the people and programs around the country to talk to each other, to find out what works, what doesn't work. who the heck wants to say, i'm homeless and i'm gay, beat me up ? it is really tough for the kids. toughody wants to be a guy, but when you think about it, look at a 15-year-old. nowadays, kids are coming out even younger because of scenes from the media that it is cool to be who you are and then they come out and their parents don't know how to deal with this. itortunately, sometimes comes to them running away out of fear of rejection or violence or both.

kid.is kind of sad for a kids don't really ask to be born and they don't come with a moneyback guarantee. go and return them. there is no return policy when you become a parent. it is tough. it is not easy to be a parent. we also want to work with renée and other organizations and outreach programs. i also wanted to say, the people that are doing this work work really hard and they are like angels. ok? they go out in the field and and talk to these kids sometimes you get some kids to come in and sometimes you don't. these homeless kids hide, so it is hard to get account. but we need to get a count.

as lisa and laura said, to help them. that is kind of the work that we have been doing. i don't think you should throw any kid away. ok. let me cut to the chase. [laughter] know,ose of you who don't senator leahy and senator collins introduced the runaway homeless youth and trafficking act and it improves the act in a number of ways. allecognizes the needs of recognizing homelessness. ok. it includes the provision that aims to support family reunification and intervention, which is crucial as family conflict is the number one reason to read we just said that. most important, a nondiscrimination clause to

include lgbt homeless youth to not only have access to crucial services and all those services are safe, welcoming, better tailored to their unique needs andh will present unsafe their needs to survive. the senate judiciary committee -- i can't even speak -- it is headed to the senate. we need to roll her sleeves up and make this happen for the kids. it is important. actually, it saves money. instead of punishing them for being homeless, let's bring them back in. let's go you are with you. i was one of the kids that benefited from a program like and i think it is important to read i think i gave back he's a very i never will and thought anything or anybody.

it is ironic how i'm standing here with these people, the same kind of people that helped me reenter and go from hostile to hostels, youth hostels, shelters, to a home of my own. ,hank you very much and please let's be energized and make this thing happen. ok? thank you so much. [applause] wait a minute. let me just say something. that was silly. let me introduce one of these kids. you look like beautiful kids. i don't know your names. you're the next speaker, are you? come on up. which one is speaking first. you're introducing them. [laughter] ok.

yes, it's right here. let me introduce to have a. -- debbie. [laughter] [applause] thank you. i get the honor of introducing our youth speakers today. i'm debbie powell. we are the federal funder for the runaway homeless youth program. introduce these three young people that we have with us today. happens wheny what we work in partnership with the best. first, we have jessica mccormick. aquinas student at college in grand rapids, michigan and she expects to graduate with a double major in sociology and community leadership. she became homeless in high school and received help from arbor circle, a grand rapids grantee. experiences with

homelessness in high school and college, she has advocated locally and nationally for homeless college students. i will let her tell you more about her work and her homelessness. [applause] >> good afternoon. my name is jesse mccormick. in here from aquinas college grand rapids, michigan to share some of my experiences. i became homeless before my senior year of high school. i was assisted by arbor circle, an organization in grand rapids who helped me with case management and ultimately encouraged me to attend aquinas college, where i had been at septage -- accepted.

this was crucial. one of the main things that young people really are looking our education and employment opportunities and i truly saw this as one of the avenues that are needed to take in order to rise above the situation and escape the cycle of poverty. i think it is also important to note that once you are in college, there are multiple barriers to staying in college and to staying that course and succeeding within it. those were also mentioned. withes hand-in-hand employment opportunities, transportation, health care. all of these things are essential. if you are going to focus on your school to succeed and ultimately graduate from college and move on to a successful life. i think that those are largely things that need to be addressed. to ask my school to focus on their brakes

policies, fall breaks, christmas breaks. traditionally, homeless students may not have an opportunity to stay stay -- safe and sheltered. i was very fortunate that they were happy with my campaign and we received just sort of -- short of 127,000 signatures which led my school to a greater discussion and take us more seriously. this past april, the school took are moving to solutions. we met with six or seven different schools and the grand rapids area who are facing similar challenges to get the process started and start a productive discussion of where we go from here, how we can collaborate, what solutions may be. i'm happy to see that progress within my school and that they are leading within my community. i think that all of you here today are aware that there is a

, but i also think that it is important to move from our awareness to our action. i wanted to use some of my experiences to maybe give you guys ideas on how you can take action, how you can help, how you can participate. i think we all are aware of high school in our areas and those high schools have liaisons. anybody can do this, can contact their local liaison to see what they need, how they can help. maybe they need something as simple as mentors to talk to students. maybe these youth need school supplies. maybe they need shoes that fit. all of these basic needs that can be met by anybody. everybody lives in the district of a high school. for those of us here who work you canice providers,

be useful by empowering the youth you work with. speak to them about what they can do, how they can move forward, encourage them to pursue their employment opportunities, those educational opportunities, and help them on the basic steps. help them with the fafsa. help them with the different expectations and documents they are specter to have. for those of you who work directly with policy, i know that it was mentioned that there were more than 49,000 youth counted on a given night in january. thatld agree with cyndi maybe that is a low estimate. i have heard numbers between 1.5 million and 2 million. because it is such an invisible population, because we do blend in, it is more difficult to track it. could benefit on a policy level from a definition and from kind of some safeway to

measure in order to move forward. really going to end our goal of youth homelessness by 2020, it is essential to have an aligning definition that will embrace all of the different situations, from living in their cars to staying with friends to count shopping. there are multiple different populations to address and it is important to address that. i hope that each of you will leave not only with some encouragement and some ideas about the policy and what can be done, but about how you can take action and how you can be a part of the solution. [applause] >> thank you so much for your remarks, jesse. i think you are a future

policymaker. [laughter] i have several ideas that we will use to help redesign our services for youth that are homeless. next we have anthony ross. anthony grew up right here in washington dc. 13, he entered the family and youth services bureau emergency shelter and started youth work. later he studied for the ged while working two jobs. he went on to attend university of raleigh north carolina and graduated magna cum laude. he now aspires to become a lawyer and he has been accepted at the university of north carolina central into the law program and is looking for scholarships and grants. [applause] if you have information to share, i'm just saying, help them out. the ongoing support of sasha bruce and former staff member

george montgomery helped him overcome homelessness. please join us, anthony. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone. i'm anthony ross, a 24-year-old african-american male and my dream is to show the people of the world that they can become successful the matter the circumstances. at age 13, i lost my grandmother who was my soul caretaker. i never knew my dad and my mom was a drug addict. my sisters and i were living in a house with no water or heat. carether attempted to take of my sisters and me for a couple of months. we ran out of the house when she

tried to murder us with a meat cleaver one night. i send it up -- i ended up homeless sleeping in cars and on the streets. one tried to hit me with a frying pan, my and, and the other was an alcoholic. i then began living with strangers. they were a family of 13 who lived in a two bedroom, one bathroom apartment and southeast washington dc they would not allow me to get food from the refrigerator and when i found out they were getting food stamps and welfare benefits using my name, i was beat up and kicked out of my house. i had no choice but to return to the homeless shelter. iowa said to watch my back and protect my belongings because different people achieve -- sleep in the shelter throughout the night. i want to do go to high school so bad, but i needed to feed and close myself. i enrolled in a ged program

while i worked at starbucks and ruby tuesday. after i earned my ged, i began to prepare for the sat exams because i wanted to go to college. teaching myself algebra, trigonometry, logarithms, and geometry watching youtube videos and having a tutor tutor me. i was accepted to saint augustine's university of north carolina. dayent 4-6 hours studying a and earned a 4.0 gpa my freshman year. i was overlooked in the foster care system, i could never find a foster family. i spend holidays with my friends and mentors because i had nowhere to go. while i was in college, i was inducted into a national honor society. i was one of the presidents and

dean's list students on the year. i wanted department award. i served three years in student government association and was elected student body president of the university my junior year. i interned for the mayor of washington dc. this was a seminal experience that exposed me to politics and the workplace where he and president obama performed several initiatives which i was able to see firsthand. i served as a guest speaker at the british embassy and was one out of 15 homeless students in the united states chosen to attend a scholarship conference on behalf of the national association for the education of homeless children and youth. the 15 of us shared our stories in front of 700 policymakers to decrease youth homelessness, but we also built a bond of a family that we never had. our efforts helped congress draft a bill for homeless youth act.

on may 7, 2013, i graduated magna cum laude. i am now aspiring to become an attorney and later run for political office. my instagram, over 100,000 people across the world have urged me to write my autobiography homeless at age 13 to a college graduate that was recently published on amazon.com in hopes of helping others achieve their goals despite the adversity. please note a support me by purchasing a copy of my out about griffey -- -- autobiography -- [laughter] with yourhare it family and friends to help someone else in need. it is important that we keep funding youth homelessness programs to help others succeed. thank you and god bless. [applause]

>> i'm just saying, awesome. maybe you can help my son. [laughter] sincere.ave on the gardenised park neighborhood. coming outlet to the further loss of his stable support system after his mother died. of thed the program night ministry in chicago which received from thing -- funding from the family and services. he has become an outspoken

advocate for the young people in chicago. please welcome sincere. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone. i she just said, my name is. -- sincere. i grew up in the garfield park area of chicago. i was living with my mother and my grandmother, along with my sister, who really supported me through a lot. in 2008, my mom lost her battle to cancer, which left me in a state of not knowing what to do with life, had to see anything. at that point in time, i decided to come out to my friends and family, which i thought was the easiest process.

in reality, it was one of the biggest challenges of my life. i was always told by friends that you should be who you are ,o matter what is going on except for they left out the fact that unless you are gay, keep that to yourself. battleming out, it was a just to figure out resources. just to figure out where i was going to go. my mom was my main caregiver. that role had kind of reversed. as she got sicker. i managed to maintain. homelessi became fully , on the streets to survive. , i started out posting things on facebook, saying how over things i was and i was ready to give up on life. a lot of folks that i did not even know started sending me

messages to not give up that there were many services and there was this one neighborhood where everyone went in chicago which was lakeview or the boys town area. the -- upon getting to the boys town area, i received support from folks i would never have imagined. folks who were in the struggle themselves, but wanted to make sure not another person felt unsupported. i stayed in abandoned buildings, friends houses for two years, anywhere where i felt safe enough to go to sleep. time.about 10 of us at a , little but shortly after that we found the night ministry. sheltern the youth which allowed folks to come in as they are, meaning they did not try to figure out why you

were homeless, why you were -- what tape of person you were. they provided the support that you needed. that blew my mind. people would be able to give and help without receiving in return. from 2008 through 2012, i tried going to school on and off. without a safe place to keep books and study and honestly doing homework in the rain sometimes ruined my books, sometimes stuff was stolen when i was asleep, it created another barrier to try to get an education. in 2012, i decided i was going to continue tuesday keep -- to keep studying for my ged. at that point in time, one of my many mentors told me about a job opening with him at night ministry that they thought i was highly qualified for. of course, i did not believe .his whatsoever

after talking to a couple of friends who encouraged me to continue moving forward with my life, i applied and interviewed for the position. nonetheless, i was offered a job at the night ministry within the youth shelter that i used to attend myself, which was the , ittest, it was the most was one of the best days of my life, to say anything. i never thought it would be one of the people that would be there for folks, to show up and guide folks. yous not the end when become homeless. there is still a future. there is still things you can move forward to. since then, i have been back and forth from small cities, big cities throughout this country letting folks know that the basic support that folks never even think of, the privileges that we all hold as far as food, shelter, there is a person to talk to, those are the things that are deeply needed to say

the least. i'm currently at a full-time position at the night ministry. the needs of four years ago are not the needs now. people think that things stay the same and we always need to give out the same resources and the same types of support. people evolve rapidly. especially now. was i heard folks say earlier. young folks are coming out as early as 12, 13, if not younger. therefore, we need to be ready to support those young folks who do come out. i have been currently working at talking to a lot of folks about how to realize my dream of opening a 24 hour you three source center.

-- youth resource center. it would be a drop in center, youth center, and education center. young folks would find everything they need in one place, though not everyone would be able to stay, but it would be open to a maximum amount of folks that we could give service to at that moment. thank you. [applause] >> i want to give a great big thank you to our youth speakers today. you have heard me say this before. every time i hear one of you all speak, it makes me know that the supports we provide in our program are what you need and you are true inspirations and i'm so happy that you are sharing your stories here today. i'm hope you're able to touch

many other lies, -- lives, especially many other youths lives. successes all and the you have accomplished, it gives hope. it is so wonderful that you are here, not just adults that have never experienced homelessness, but people who have experienced homelessness, to show that they can be successful. we always need more funding. in social programs, we always need that. what i heard so loud and clear is that it was the positive adults in those lives that helped them make a difference. we always say how overburdened we are with our own life. if you have an hour a week, an hour per day to give support to a young person who just needs to have an adult to say, you can do it, i believe in you. the most important thing that we all can do in this room. i'm going to go off script for a minute and ask the adults that

have been a part of these young people's lives to stand. i know miss montgomery is here. someone also came with sincere. i'm not sure who came with jessica. stand up. you gave your time today even to come. [applause] thank you. you are also an inspiration for us. this is an opportunity we have now to open up the floor for questions for our youth. i'm going to ask that the press holder questions to the end. i'm going to ask that our guests on the floor ask questions. are there any questions? for our youth panel? chris conway. >> mi on? good afternoon. thank you for joining us. i want to say a special thanks to our guests, the three youth

who really in the brief time they have had with us have demonstrated an amazing story of resiliency and one that we all need to take away as inspiration for our own lives. we are in a position of struggle or difficulty, but i think we need to reflect back on the stories that they have given us today and realized that more often than not, we are not enough that of a situation. so thank you for that. i have somewhat of a softball question to get the ball rolling. you have already talked about the positive adult connections, the people in your lives, you hug knowledge to couple of those folks who are here. can you talk at all about some of the other points, one or two points each of things that have really meant the difference between being in a continued homeless situation or being able to cross over into a situation that has some sense of in facing forward

movement in your life? >> i would say that working with policies thate school has has been really important to me, everything from how they handle a young person who does not have the traditional social types. i transferred high schools five times. i don't think that i had the same mass classes any two semesters that were supposed to be. with standards changing district to district to district and with where you are changing between that, it was very difficult for me to have a ground line or baseline. everything from how they handled

that to establishing baseline to how they handle things like brake housing, things like getting food, employment opportunities, those were all very important to me. it is extremely difficult to look past the adults in our lives. i did not have any family support. i was raised by mentors and community members in washington dc and they were not even family. when they were raising me, i took a look at how successful they were and i have always wanted to be in that circle of success. every time i would see mr. george and he was always there .or us as a social worker i did not want to disappoint him or any other people. to give up was not really worth

it. i wanted to make them proud. being around a lot of successful people keeps me motivated to say, i want to be just like that or i wish i was as great as you are because leadership starts at the top end of leadership is not at the top, then you going to look up to? that was very important to me and what keeps me going today. i'm so hungry for it. it is going to keep me going regardless. >> one of the things that really kept me moving throughout this process in my experiences was the fact that i was able to access these resources without worrying about what people theyht of me or how perceived my gender, sexual orientation, anything like that. it was a clear open program for folks, whoever needed it, to access it. they did not ask where you came from, how you became homeless, what your sexual orientation is,

any of those things. all of those things were limited it so i could keep my mind focus on my goals. i did not have to so that was the main thing for me, to keep me pushing, because there was one less thing i had to worry about while getting off the streets. >> thank you so much. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] >> i'm wondering those of you estranged or separate from family, how you build to family far away. say, as farike to

as our resources, facebook was pretty big for me. i was not in contact with any of my family members, and social networking is big. i use facebook and instagram parent i asked my friends if they could repost my story and tell me find my family for graduation. 100,000 people. unfortunately, my family was not able to come to my graduation, but two weeks later, the story kept going. i actually got in contact with my cousin. last time was when i was five years old. she put me in contact with my sister. i came to d.c. actually a couple of days ago for the event. i'm actually in the process of seeing my sisters and nieces and nasty -- and nephews. big whendia is reaching out to that extended family. in my experience, i found when talking to families about different situations, just having conversations about lgbt

about different barriers young people have to go through in order to survive on their own, is enough just to at least open people's minds to what is really going on. for me, personally, there was a movie i found about a year and a half ago, fish out of water. that movie, like watching it with friends, that was very helpful. a small not come from family. i have multiple aunts and uncles who i am aware of and connected with, but who were in similar situations but under death but otherwise unable to help. i believe two or three of her siblings were homeless. they have had addiction issues. think at that point, it is

almost worthwhile, as everybody is here today to do, to support young people so when they are older and we are in a position of having families not surrounded by the same position where young people, our own children, we are unable to support them. am ruth white. i want to thank you for the extreme generosity you show in sharing your stories with us. hopefully, that will move the ball policy wise when you are in office. work on your campaign or whatever. my question is for mark greenberg. i am wondering what the timeline or plan is for instituting something that looks like the money follows the person program that medicaid has for disabled adults. think, we're here to make sure

the runway gets passed. it is ridiculous that it has not passed, but it will pass. care side of the ledger, we're talking about $20 billion. any kid under the age of 18 in the united states is entitled to services. it does not have to be foster care, especial for a kid, that might not be the appropriate setting. night ministry, and maybe it is your own apartment. it should be used to subsidize rent. you're 21, that money should have followed you until college. i am wondering what the plan is on getting the word out that the money assessable and you should never be turned away from federal entitlement in age 13. you should be able to live with your grandma as appropriate. if it is not, you should never be turned away and you should still get federal entitlement.

>> thank you. we think much more needs to be done in strengthening coordination between the foster care system and the runaway system. it is absolutely clear when we talk to providers across the , part of a cf is responsibility for foster care, haschildren's bureau, it been involved in active conversations, which will be leading to, the technical term is information memoranda, which would be going out to child welfare agencies and providers on a whole set of issues related

to stronger coordination. that will be forthcoming. invite my collies, is there anything else you would want to say on that? >> no. >> hopefully by the conference in november, we will have something that has already been disseminated to you. to say, withted the 150 million dollars, to be honest, we need the programs to keep the unfunded so we can have more successful youth. we are just three people and there are more than three people who have goals and aspirations they cannot achieve because of money. my situation is that i could not go to high school, and i needed to earn my ged to go to college. not all colleges except that, get into able to four-year private school that did. i could not be honored for a full ride or scholarships because i never received a high school diploma and i had to take up student loans.

it is the same thing with law school. i had to take a break because it is costing for three years to get my ged. i wanted to keep going but i believe some of that money should also not help get the youth homeless there, but keep them there. out yould like to point mentioned there is a discrepancy between the foster youth and homeless youth. i believe i am speaking for all three of us that even though we were all under the age of 18 when we became homeless, none of us was eligible for the foster care, which may have followed us in college and adulthood. i think that doubles and reemphasize the necessity of having a common definition or some kind of way to define who is and who is not eligible to receive those funds. maureen, we go to would anybody on the panel like

to ask a question? would you like to ask a question of the youth? there is always a map of how to. a lot of times, it is residential that helps you the system.ough the system is vast and very confusing to me. i am a grown-up. kid, once you get abc, that helps. it is like a map. that is all you guys have been saying over and over again. it is a map here the foster care kidsm, i have heard from from lgbt, that the foster care was, sometimes, most of the time, they were with various people and could not figure out which was worst, what they ran

off -- ran away from, and what they were in. that is a concern for me about you kids being on the streets. maybe you could tell them about that. maybe you could. >> honestly, i was not part of the foster care system myself. however, a lot of the folks i come into contact with, a lot of the folks i still talk to to this day have a foster care system. the foster care system is basically set up just as home situations are. you still have folks who do not understand young people. you still have folks not willing to change the thought process around lgbt issues. needs to behere more intentionality about who becomes foster parents. there needs to be some type of competency training if you are

going to take in a young person who is lgbt. if you do not understand a wide variety of things, there will be no point in you further damaging this person's life to be honest. >> thank you so much. last question. with the national runaway say fine. i want to thank the panelist, especially cindy and the young people. we are a 24-hour online and hotline service to help people get to safety or be reunited with their families. if you were aware of our services, would there be obstacles or reasons you would not reach out? >> one of the obstacles that comes off the top of my mind would be, where do i get access to internet or a phone to call? payphones do not exist like they used to.

calling toll-free numbers is not a thing that can happen anywhere. it is just, where would i be able to use the internet or the call andorder to figure out where the services are. >> would anybody like to respond to that? >> i would also say i do not think the barrier would be communicating or reaching out. sometimes, in experiences i have had when i reach out to certain individuals, a certain solution will be proposed, like one of the myths you brought up, like, just go home? it is difficult when you write a young person reaching out to somebody for help and they are proposing solutions like this, to explain the whole situation, or to justify your reasoning, when you are really just looking for a safe place to go. i think that would be one thing to focus on, is when a young will not work,is to not go into the details of why not.

to add to that, we need adults in our lives, to be honest. we definitely cannot do it alone. we needed those who are understanding. we have a lot of people in the crowd today listening to our stories. i hope you guys don't just walk away. some of you are here for policies and whatnot, but please, be there for the kids struggling who want to succeed erin a lot of us do not know where to turn. if it were not for my mentors and supporters, i would not even be here today. it is extremely important for as well. take a role >> another thing i would like to add is a lot of times, when those are contacted by young people, there is a roadmap set up for them. a lot of times, young people are at a point rate is like him i needed basic thing. at this moment in time, i may not be thinking about going to college or right now, i may not

be thinking about whatever you have set up right now. i just want to lie down for the night. if you offer those things young people are asking for and then move forward, that would be the best strategy ever. >> thank you so much. [applause] and thank you so much for our speakers, as well as our guest audience for coming today. thisu want to join us in challenge in the fight to end youth homelessness, please go to our website. thank you all for coming. [applause] thank you.

i -- >> how are you doing? >> we have been covering this event in washington and police

and the government in canada have been trying to do with a shooting that happened. most of downtown ottawa is in lockdown after shots were fired at an apartment building and two other sites. a social state -- a soldier standing guard and a lawmaker tweeted at least 30 shots were parliament. shots were also fired in a nearby shopping mall. we follow this story starting with a tweet from the executive director of a nonprofit organization who happened to be in the canadian parliament building at the time. he tweeted this picture of chair style that against the door. a shot from inside the caucus room after a shooting. we also have this video shot inside parliament while the shooting was under way. you can also hear some of the holy casings hitting the floor while we play it.

the bullet casings hitting the floor while we play it. >> pretty dramatic footage they're captured live. police confirmed several shootings in ottawa. in downtown buildings

lockdown, also due to a shooting earlier. they are currently on lockdown. we will opt air -- we will update information. that is from someone in the u.s. embassy in ottawa. also of fox news, tweeting -- we have also learned that norad and the fbi have increased their alert posture as a result of the incident. we will continue to watch it and bring any updates as they become available. top democrat on the house energy and commerce committee is retiring at the end of this session. congressman henry waxman will discuss challenges this afternoon at georgetown at the university of law school. it starts about an hour from now here on c-span. also later today at 5:30, live coverage as judge janice brown talks about the constitution. she is on a federal appeals

court district of columbia circuit. she will speak at the heritage foundation. >> with the 2004 collection less than two weeks away, our campaign debate coverage continues. tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, the new york debate. c-span two, the florida governor's debate with governor rick scott and the former governor. at 8:30 on c-span, the illinois debate with representative rob schneider and the former representatives, bob dole. dold. illinois 13th the district debate with representative rodney davis. thursday night, live at 8:00 eastern, the iowa fourth district debate between representative stephen king.

than 100 debates for the control of congress. >> now to the south carolina governor's debate. the incumbent republican governor facing off against her challengers, including -- the second and final debate between candidates. this race is listed as likely republican. from greenville, south carolina, courtesy of sinclair broadcast group, about an hour. voice, your future, live welcome to a, down-home south carolina brought toal debate, you by --

please welcome tonight's >> good evening and welcome. this is the second and finalized gubernatorial debate before the election. joining us this evening, dr. morgan bruce reeves, mr. steve french, judge tom irvine, senator vincent shaheen, and governor nikki haley. the topics to be discussed tonight our education and health care. the candidate is presented 60 seconds to answer each question. each candidate is given up to three 30-second rebuttals at their discretion. joining us -- in the interest of time and out of respect for all candidates,

we have asked the live audience to refrain from clapping, sharing, or otherwise making noise with two exceptions. we welcome our candidates. [applause] thank you again for joining us. good luck. time is short, so let's get started. the first question will go to dr. reeves. >> the department of justice has [applause] thank you again for joining us. good luck. time is short, so let's get started.

the first question will go to dr. reeves. >> the department of justice has warned all school districts they are required to educate all children regardless of immigration status. one estimate puts the cost in all 50 states and at least -- that at least 760 million dollars. should this be the cost of local school district or the federal government? >> i think the funding is coming from the federal government, and it should be responsible for the federal government. just take a look at the corridor of shame. president obama came down to south carolina, and the corridor of shame refers to schools that have been neglected in rural areas. 79% of children on free lunch or partial free lunch, and we turn that money down. that is what you call the

corridor of shame. the plaintiffs in the case complain because they didn't have enough money to run their schools because of inadequate funding. if i was governor, i would receive that money from the federal government, and i would improve our schools. i would send jobs to rural areas. where i live would have nearly 40,000 people and only one library. >> your time has expired. the same question please. >> i would like to start by thanking you for having us tonight. i want to start by introducing myself again, who i am and what makes me the best candidate in my opinion. i am a young father, young house and who came to this date a short number of years ago in

poverty, destitute poverty, homeless. i had nothing but a truck, strong work ethic, and a dream to build my business. i am running for governor because i believe a libertarian can bring you the freest state in the nation. everything i talk about is going to be based on that. doesn't make it free economically and socially? i am not for south carolinians paying for this. this is the broken immigration policy. this does not free us by continuing to take on people we cannot support. i am 100% about people coming to this country legally. i am 100% about them coming here with their kids. >> same question. >> i would oppose trying to educate illegal immigrants. we don't have the resources to educate our own children. if you look at the recent scores that came out for south carolina's schools, we have a

number of school district that are failing, and we don't have adequate resources for our children. we need to set a high bar of excellence for all of our public school kids and see if we can properly educate them, give them a world-class education so they will be ready for manufacturing jobs in the future. we also need to keep in mind that our local tax base is not a quilt to handle a mass of illegal immigrants. we are still coming out of an economic downturn. it would require more tax revenue if we were to raise taxes. >> i don't believe in unfunded mandates. if the federal government requires the state to do something the federal government should pay for it.

i have a plan for public education. my mom was a public school teacher. i think we need perspective again. my plan is to focus on the basics. we obsess about standardized testing in south carolina. focus on the basics. get kids early. pay our teachers decent money. right now south carolina pays its teachers some of the worst salaries in america, and we lose too many. when we have those dollars we should focus on teacher pay. if we want to get down to the basics, we need to shrink class sizes. vouchers don't work. it's the basics that work. i want to create a teacher's council to help us understand what we can do as a state government to improve public

education. we need a government that supports public education every year. i will be that governor. >> think you. i want to thank you for having us here today. your question is should we be paying through local school districts or federal. it has been very troubling to have the federal government sent over undocumented children. it is dangerous to cross the border, but president obama and his administration refused to close our borders. we have over 500 undocumented children. they won't tell us who they are. he won't tell us where they are going, and they are just saying we have to educate and do health care. our state districts don't need to take care of it. they need to stop sending undocumented children to our state. >> the next question will go to mr. french.

>> 29 states recently adopted the standards for education. since then several states have withdrawn. four states have the late implementation. has common core hurt or help schools? >> i think it is giving a statewide program. there are arguments for common core and against. i am not a fan of it. i know what it is going to take to succeed. we were neck and neck before. the average student in south carolina ranked better than the average floridian student. since then floridian students from low income or students with disabilities outpaced the average south carolinians student because florida has enacted certain reforms. you parents out there, you know what is better for your children than anybody up here on this stage. you need to have the power and the choice to be able to send your student anywhere you see

fit. if you like common core, that is great. i want to give you the option to continue to be in that program. if you don't like it and want to go to a charter school or homeschool, i want to support that. we can do better than the results we are getting right now. >> same question. >> i am opposed to common core standards. we need standards, but we can do home-grown standards right here. i was surprised when governor haley signed a memo which reauthorized common core in this state. if you want to read it yourself, go to my website, and you can see where governor haley supported reauthorization. that was wrong. when i am governor we will fix this by adopting our own standards. we can do it in south carolina. we will make sure parents, teachers, educators, school board members have input. let's have our own standards. >> senator. >> i believe our standards should be developed by teachers and not our politicians. that is what i will do.

it is a clear distinction. i believe the basics need to be improved. i support increasing teacher pay. governor haley voted to veto teacher pay. when i am governor we are going to cut the government staff increases and increased teacher pay. i think we need to catch up with other states and have kindergarten in south carolina. i led the charge, working with republicans and democrats. the governor vetoed the program to implement part of the program. my focus is on how do we improve the basics in public education? pay our teachers decent wages. have smaller class sizes. make sure every child has an opportunity to learn regardless

of where they happen to live. >> we have always opposed common core. we work to let the legislature no how harmful this was and that we want to reverse it. we worked well. we are happy to say we have reversed common core. common core is like obamacare. it nationalizes education like it nationalizes health care. he said we vetoed teacher pay. that is not true. we didn't veto teacher pay. we are for teacher increases. we said enough one-time money going to current expenses. they deserve better. we have less staff budget than the previous administration. whether we increase individual members, it is still less than the previous administration. i appreciate the support, but we not only supported it in 2013.

we supported it in 2014, and it went statewide. >> i would like to get dr. reeves response. >> i don't get it. king kong is the seventh wonder of the world. i am the eighth. here we have two politicians who have been in office. one for 15 years. one was the governor of the state of south carolina. all of a sudden, it is everybody

else's fault. you keep voting on the same people, and you want different results. we talk about education. let's look at personal education. i have two doctorate degrees. that doesn't make me better than anyone else. i love common core. i am a football player. i have been hit on the head a lot of times. everybody is on the same beat. they voted against legalizing marijuana. why should we not do that when it can help our children become educated? this is a powerful choice. we have people vote against legalizing marijuana. let's legalize it. let's get on down with it. 79% of students in these rural areas did not have money. here is our democratic candidate. here is our republican governor. >> the time has expired. >> what we need is honesty and truth in our governor. to have governor haley stand here and say she didn't veto teacher pay raises when she did is disturbing. she can say it was one-time

money are two-time money or whatever excuse she wants to come up with, but it is wrong to veto teacher pay increases and give your staff increases. we need honesty. we need a governor we can trust again. >> you had a rebuttal? >> i would like to talk quickly. everybody wants to talk about this pre-pay initiative. we don't have the infrastructure to support that. we don't have the buildings. we don't have the trailers. any church or faith-based organization, you can get this pre-k and assistance. we used to have kindergarten. we don't have that anymore because so many people want to go to public schools. you're eventually going to lose these organizations. >> you had a rebuttal? >> we had three agencies. the way the budget was funded was with one-time money. we made a decision that we were no longer going to pay for programs with one-time money. yes, we veto teacher pay for one-time money. 40% of it past. we are not going to get into the budgeting of

washington, d.c. i don't agree withhe senate. you don't pay teachers with one-time money and hope you have the money for next year. >> you signed a memo reauthorizing common core. how can you stand up here tonight and say you were against it when you were the one who reauthorized it? go to my website, and you can read for yourself. you have trouble with the truth. you just can't get it right. i want you to read the memo on my website, and you will see she supported it. >> we will move on to our next question. >> to continue, teacher pay has been ranked near the bottom when it comes to salaries. what if anything will you do to raise teacher salaries and improve early education? >> teacher pay is harming our state. we lost over 10,000 teachers just last year alone because of the fact we are not staying competitive with neighboring states. when i was in the legislature we passed the education improvement act. part of that was to make sure

teacher pay in south carolina stayed at the southeastern average. the legislature is not funded, and they should that has not funded that, and they should because teachers are the direct way to improve education. they are in the classroom, and they need that time is professional so our young people can succeed in school. we need to cut down on standardized tests. many of our teachers and up having to buy school supplies out of their pocket. that is wrong. we have to do a better job of supporting our teachers. >> we need a governor who is going to support public education every year and not in an election year. i support increasing teacher pay because it is the right thing to do. governor haley's veto for the first three years struck at public education over and over again. it wasn't until election year we heard governor haley talk about education. we have got to have a governor

who is going to be honest, truthful, and support public education every year. i remember leading the charge to overturn her veto of teacher pay. i remember working with republicans and democrats to create kindergarten in 17 counties, and the governor was missing. either we are going to have honest leadership or more political rhetoric that is not true, that doesn't lead the state forward. is it any wonder our public schools have suffered when we haven't had leaders that will speak the truth? >> i support teacher pay raises. i will also tell you i support children in south carolina. we have the strongest education reform in decades. we talked to teachers and principals and superintendents. we spent two of the last three and a half years trying to get this passed. what did we get -- reading coaches in elementary school. technology, internet inside the

school. professional development money for the teachers because they said, don't set up a computer unless you teach us how to use it. expanding charter schools. for the first time we can say children no longer get funded based on where they live. we educate children in south carolina because they deserve a good education and that is our future workforce. that was the first year of making education a priority again. we have already met with the teachers, principals, and everyone else again this summer to work on the plan. we will continue to support our children as we work on it. >> teacher pay. again, here we go again. we got the executive branch, and you have got the legislative branch sitting there. let me tell you what politics is. art and science concerned with winning and holding control of our government. the citizens of the state of south carolina own the

statehouse. we own the governor's mansion. we have two people who have been given $10 million to figure out the problem. here is our democratic candidate and our republican candidate. we gave $10 million to play a golf tournament at myrtle beach. the most historical black school there is. i wonder if african-americans know the difference. i am not getting at the back of the bus for you. it is not about lack or white. it is what is right. this was supposed to go through k to 12. that changed with the lottery. >> your time has expired. >> i sound off on a lot of things. when it comes to teacher pay, can we agree there are certain teachers we need to be paying a lot more and there are certain teachers we don't need to be paying at all? we need to be able to decipher how we go about best doing that. i am the only candidate talking about getting rid of the department of commerce, which is

a slush fund. we can decriminalize marijuana and save $157 million a year. if we decriminalize marijuana, that is $133,000 per school. why don't we give that as a bonus to teachers? when don't we have each school say the best teachers get a bonus? you want to create competition? that is a good way of starting it. that is another reason why i am for a statewide program. it puts competition in the schools. i am doing it based on no income restraint. if you have a child in this state you should get the power. >> we will reverse the order of which we ask questions. the next question will go to governor haley. but the first series on the domestic violence murder rate them and straightened guns were the weapons of choice in two thirds of all killings. should the state make it easier to keep firearms out of the hands of domestic violence offenders?

>> i believe in the second amendment. i know the time and education you need in order to be able to carry.

we want to make sure we put it in the hands of responsible people, which is why we have legislation that said anyone who had been ordered to be declared with the mentally ill disease that they could not carry, but we want to have the ability to protect the home and the business.

domestic violence really does flake south carolina. it is something we need to go deeper into. the best chance we have is making sure victims of domestic violence understand there is a safe place for them. they are not comfortable going to law enforcement. we need to make sure they know there are places we can go. we need to make sure we are doing all we can to educate people on how they can have a better life. >> senator? >> people who have been convicted of domestic violence should not have guns. i believe in the second amendment. i believe in protecting rights two guns, but abusers should not have guns. i am shocked to hear governor haley say she thinks it is ok, but maybe we shouldn't be since

a few years ago she vetoed funding for rape crisis centers. she vetoed funding for domestic abuse centers, when we know those women are some of the most at need women in the state. i was proud to override this veto because it was the right thing to do. i was disappointed when she said she wasn't going to bow to special interest groups like these victims are special interest groups. we have been ranked under the last two years under the governor number one and number two in women killed by men they know. it is a cultural problem, but we need to have honest leadership if we are going to change it. >> governor haley has failed to lead on domestic violence. that is a shame because she could have done that. she turned her back on the victims of domestic violence. not only does the nonprofit have shelters, but they also go into the schools, and they teach the next generation of young people it is not right to hit people.

it is not appropriate to lash out against your spouse. we have to find appropriate ways to fix conflict. i support the second amendment. i am a member of the nra. i am a holder of a concealed weapons permit. when someone is convicted of domestic violence, they have no business with loaded guns in the home. >> south carolina, the second amendment is your insurance policy against tierney. -- against tyranny. i want you to understand that is a big point. when it comes to domestic violence and mental illness, can't we agree we want people who have a mental background or a violent background should be allowed to get weapons? the question becomes how do we keep those weapons out of people's hands.

i am for conceal and carry. being a libertarian and having a consistent policy, if a restaurant owner doesn't want to allow guns in his establishment, that restaurant owner i believe gets to make that decision. we have to be talking about both sides of the coin. when it comes to domestic violence, i think one of the best things is getting opportunities so women can lead these household and not be stuck in the same recovering situations. second amendment is the biggest insurance policy against tyranny, and i am a big supporter. >> i think guns don't kill people, but i think you need to be very responsible for the weapons and not only for the

citizens, but we need to change some of our law enforcement officers. we have law enforcement officers out here -- i haven't heard about democratic candidates saying anything about a young african-american kid gets shot at four times. i am sick and tired of law enforcement we pay that is supposed to support our citizens going and robbing these communities like always. again, love the lord with all your mind, your heart, and soul. love your neighbor. one thing that makes me different from everyone else is in all their plans i kept god in it. i mentioned his name more than anyone else. that don't make me better than anyone else. love one another.

>> thank you, dr.. the next question will be direct. you have a rebuttal? >> i think it is amazing senator shaheen speaks of domestic violence. this is a trial lawyer who has defended individuals who have abused children. don't talk to us about domestic violence and say what you want to say. it doesn't work like that. the reason we vetoed those nonprofits is because they are independent private nonprofit. it is not up to me to decide where taxpayer dollars should go. individuals should decide. >> you had a response? >> governor haley loves to talk about lawyers.

i am a descendent of the constitution. she hired lawyers when she violated the ethics law. she hires lawyers when she misuses the state plane and tries to get out of trouble. she hires lawyers when she threatens to sue our former employer, the hospital, and gets money out of it. it is not the employers that are the problem. it is breaking the law that is a problem. >> anymore rebuttals? the next question we will start with the senator. >> a recent poll reveals workers are overworked, overwhelmed, and underpaid compared to workers and other agencies with equal responsibilities and that a lot of experience workers are leaving. what would you do to fix the agency's problems? >> i have released a detailed plan, including bringing back workers, making sure investigations occur in 24 hours. we have to have a governor who

cares, who is honest about it. governor haley has destroyed our department of social services. we rang the alarm bells for a year. when a child in south carolina died after 17 phone calls and nothing happened from her department, she stood by her appointee, who was a failure. a vote of no-confidence in her appointee. the appointee went away. kids have died. kids have been harmed. governor haley has covered up the numbers

of what happened. this is true. an audit came out just a few weeks ago saying that kids died when they shouldn't have. that they monkeyed with the numbers. we've got to change the state and have honesty and protect the children of south carolina. >> this is why i ran for governor because governor haley has failed our most vulnerable children. she stood by and let children died between 2011 and 2013. her administration won't tell us how many kids have died this year. the legislative audit council report has been around for years. this is the third report. she knew when she took office that we had a crisis. she knew the caseworkers had too many cases assigned to them. and yet she sent her cabinet appointee to the investigative committee and lied about the numbers that they have on caseworkers. what do we get right before the eve of the election? they found the money to hire 120 new caseworkers. why wasn't that done four years ago when we needed them?

we could've saved so many lives. the most vulnerable population in our state. the children. >> i'm a libertarian because i believe in small, efficient government. i believe government has a role. right now in south carolina, we are being find a million dollars a year because we don't even have a child-support online network system that is required by law. we have 14 years of this. this is about prioritizing. we can sit there and give plenty of money by getting rid of things like corporate subsidies,

decriminalizing marijuana. i think we need to stop busting up bill and ted's excellent venture and start busting real criminals. we need to start going after the different men creating domestic violence. that is why i want to prioritize that in my administrative -- administration's budget. >> social workers are overwhelmed, overworked, and underpaid. what would you do to fix the agency's problems? >> we have the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial. i'm just teasing with you. i will double the pay of everybody in the state of south carolina. if you don't want it doubled, just vote for one of them. if you want to be a democrat, vote for them. i am trying to double the pay of our citizens in the state of south carolina. a young wife does not need to be working two or three jobs. if we double her pay, she can spend time with the children. you know what i am saying echo the influence of being in control of the government is what the democrats and

republicans have given you, south carolina. let's get somebody new for a change. what about me? why not? that will resolve those problems. >> dss has been one of the saddest agencies we've had to deal with. they are having to protect children from their own parents we have tried to make changes over the years so that caseworkers -- we have put in mental health officials as well as alcohol and drug abuse officials. we are making sure the

supervisors no longer have cases. we are putting and second shifts where we have too many. this is not an easy agency and i don't take it lightly. this is something that's extremely painful but we are trying every day and those caseworkers are trying every single day to continue to protect those children. >> this issue is so important because i met with a woman that was an advocate for abused and neglected children. since governor haley has destroyed our department of social services, she has seen more broken brown's -- broken bones and fractured skulls. those are her words, not mine. that's why we have to have honesty and leadership back in the governor's office. >> moving onto the next question. >> the affordable care act called for expanding medicaid. the u.s. supreme court ruled the states opting out of expanding

medicaid, have have done so including south carolina. was the decision a correct one? >> i don't like obamacare. i hope congress either appeals obamacare or fixes it. our u.s. supreme court says it is the law of the land. and once the supreme court said that, governor haley had a very important decision to make. was she going to take our tax

money back and expand coverage for 330,000 people that had no coverage and couldn't see a doctor? or were she going to make a political decision. here is how governor haley decided this issue. what will be best with nikki haley's political future? it would be best to reject it and look tough. i am different. i will use my christian faith as a guiding principle and i will, as matthew says, unto the least of these, take care of the folks that need it most and to make

matters worse -- >> your time has expired. >> south carolina, the federal government is broke. they have no money. i sat back during october when my son was about to be born and watched the government shutdown. the moment we have gridlock in congress, it's not going to come the south carolina. i want to give you a quick example. i'm a young man and i know what it's like to make $15,000 or

$20,000 a year. the fact is, we have to keep this program strong for those that really need it. if you're under the age of 18, i want you to be able to get coverage. if you have physical or mental impairments, i want you to be able to get coverage. i have seen my policy more than double in the past two years. and when i had my first born son, i had to pay 100% out of pocket because in private coverage, you can't get maternity care anymore. we've got a world of pain coming. i am not for expanding medicaid. >> i am for the government controlling it. and this is why. medicaid is a state and federal government program. it provides health care for people with lower income. it rates for services such as preventative health care. it pays for doctors, it pays for some people's medical bills. are we out of our mind? i have seen the executive ranch -- branch. to be on the same health-care plan is the poor people. they don't have to worry about ebola.

we are in trouble. we've got to live on a 2014 budget for medicaid for the next four years. where have those jobs gone? why don't you ask the governor and mr. shaheen -- and mr. shaheen? they're both there. >> thank you. it was the right decision to not accept the medicaid expansion. it was a bait and switch for obamacare. new setas for a whole of people that would get a new set of coverage. .ut we have old promises we have to make sure we are creating jobs through the private sector. what we have seen with obamacare and what we will continue to see is people will continue to lose doctors and premiums will continue to go up.