i also believe that in terms of just sex discrimination, if somebody asks about pay issues and is retaliated against for doing that, how is that not a form of sex discriminate in. again, a lot of people won't do that, because they have been told the policy is, you cannot discuss. again, the policy that says that you can discuss without making it clear what the outcome would be if you did, that does not have the same --. a lot of them don't. i do think it is important to collect data. as you know, and others may not, under the equal pay act we do have the authority to do investigation. unlike title vii where we have to have a charge come to us, or i can issue a commissioner charge if we hear about the termination. under equal pay we can go ahead and do the direct investigation.

that is often how we get paid data -- pay data. but it is an open question of law to say, in your report you have to give us pay data and along those lines, we commissioned studies from the commission of science, if we decided to collect this data, clearly indicated that we may have that authority, what data do you recommend that we collect? how shall we collected? -- collect it? that came in some time ago and we have not done anything with it yet. one of the things i learned when i came into the federal government things move slowly. it moves slower than i would like. practically it is a different world. i should've gotten a passport and dictionary when i came into

the government. and it is why i decided to give up my tenure at georgetown because there are things we started that needed more time. stay tuned and i hope the commission continues acting in a bipartisan way, as much as we have in the past few years and wage should not be part of the issue. [applause] >> tonight, president obama addressing the democratic national committee. and then interviews with the governors of tennessee, florida rhode island, and virginia. and tomorrow, cyber security and the law discussions. >> the city's tour takes c-span on the road.

this weekend, we have partnered with time warner cable with a visit to greensboro, north carolina. >> after months of cleaning the house, the helper was making a walk-through and in the attic he saw an envelope with a green seal on it. he walked over. he noticed the date was 1830. he removed a mail from a panel and discovered a trunk and a book and portraits. this was this treasure of dolly madison's things. this has been available to the public. but trying to include her life story until her death in 1849. some of the items that we have on display, a card, and ivory

case, it has a card enclosed with her signature. there is a small perfume bottle and a pair of silk slippers with tiny little ribbons that tie across. the two dressers are the reproductions of -- the two dresses are reproductions of what she wore early in life. they were part of the collection. this is part of the legend that has now accompanied the dress. >> saturday at noon, and sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m.

>> president obama spoke at the democratic national committee today. he spoke about the outreach to middle-class voters. his remarks were half an hour. [applause] [cheering] president obama: hello democrats. [applause] good to see all of you. this looks like a rowdy crowd. [laughter] i think that donna got you all you know, you have to watch out for donna. she will get you in trouble. have a seat. >> we love you, obama!

president obama: i love you back. i want to thank debbie for being an outstanding chair of our party. [applause] she is a great partner. i want to thank our ceo for the hard work she is doing day in and day out. [applause] to the governors and the legislatures, the mayors, state party leaders, officers, and whoever else is here. [laughter] young democrats. [applause] i am thrilled to be with you. most importantly, thank you to every american in all 50 states who helps our party. that is part of who we are. grassroots. it has been about a year since our last meeting.

and as i have indicated, as i have predicted, it was a breakthrough year for america. last year, our economy created more than 3 million new jobs. the single best year for job growth since the 1990's. [applause] over the past five years, the longest stretch of private sector job creation in american history. businesses adding nearly 12 million new jobs. and in perhaps the most hopeful sign for middle-class families in a very long time, wages are beginning to rise again. so america is coming back. [applause] we have risen from recession, we have the capacity to write her -- right -- write our own

future. we are in a better position than any other nation on earth. all of that is thanks to the hard work of the american people who we serve. but it is also thanks to the values and the policies at the core of this party. as democrats, we believe in giving every child a world class education. and today, are younger students have earned the highest math and reading scores on record. i has go graduation rate is at -- the high school graduation rate is at an all-time high. more americans are graduated from college than ever before. [applause] as democrats, we believe in reducing our dependence on foil -- foreign oil. we are number one in wind power natural gas, oil. each week, we bring on more solar power than we did in the entire year of 2008. and thank you to hire -- lower gas prices, we will be saving at the pump. the typical family should save about $750 at the pump this

year. [applause] as democrats, we believe in sensible rules that can prevent financial crisis. and shield families from ruin. and encourage fair competition. today, we have new tools to stop taxpayer-funded bailouts. a new consumer watchdog to protect families from predatory lending. new laws to protect families from getting ripped off by credit card companies. we have extended the security and fundamental rights to affordable, accessible health care to more than 10 million uninsured americans. and we are counting each and every day. folks are signing up and a benefiting. [applause] that is because of what we fought for. [applause] because of what you fought for. [applause] now, sometimes because the new cycle is so quick, we forget how

all this came about and the debates we had last year or two years or four years or six years ago. i just want everybody to remember that at every step as we made these policies, as we made this progress, we were told by our good friends, the republicans, that our actions would crush us. destroy us. and destroy the country. i mean, i want everybody to do a fact check. [laughter] and go back, 2009, 2000 and -- 2010, 2000 11, 2012, 2013, go back and look at all these statements about all of these policies. because apparently they don't remember. [laughter]

but the facts are before us. the economy kept growing. the stock market has more than doubled, restoring the 401(k)s of millions of people. our deficits are down by two thirds. [applause] i always find it curious that when a democrat is president deficits go down. republican is president, and then the deficits are going up. and yet they try to take on the mantle of fiscal probity. [applause] our auto industry is firing on all cylinders. none of this is an accident. it is not an accident that america is creating jobs faster than since the last time a democrat was president. [applause] it is not an accident that our

manufacturers are creating jobs since the first time the last time a democrat was president. it is not a next and that health -- is not an accident that health care inflation is running at the lowest rates in him is 50 years and our deficits are falling faster than they haven't -- then they have in 60 years. >> we love you obama. president obama: thank you. it is because we believe in middle class economics. we believe in the idea that this country does best when everybody gets a fair shot. everybody is doing their fair share. everybody has to play by the same rules. not top-down economics. not trickle down economics. if we were actually to look at the evidence, it is pretty clear whose theory of how to grow the economy and make sure people are prospering which theory works.

we know their ideas to work. we remember. middle class economics, that works. expanding opportunities, that works. [applause] i tell this not to be complacent, but precisely because we have more work to do. our job is not done. we still have a lot of progress to make to ensure that prosperity reaches everybody who goes to work early. or studying late into the night, who is scrimping and saving. from every paycheck to try and send their kids to college or tried to retire with dignity and respect. everybody who has the privilege of serving the american people has to ask him or herself a fundamental question. are we going to accept an economy where only a few of us did spectacularly well, or will we build an economy that generates rising incomes and opportunities for everybody who is willing to work hard? everybody who is willing to make an effort. [applause] that is the question. that we face at this moment.

and now that their grand predictions of doom and gloom and armageddon having come true, -- have not come true, the sky hasn't fallen, chicken little is quiet. [applause] [laughter] the new plan, apparently of congressional republicans, and this is progress, the new plan is to rebrand themselves as the party of the middle class. not making this up. our republican leader in the senate, as he was coming in after trying to block every single thing that we have done to strengthen the economy, starts looking at the job numbers and says, you know, it is getting better because we just got elected. [laughter] and people are feeling more optimistic. [laughter] ok. i didn't know that is how the economy works, but maybe.

[laughter] we will call some economists. [laughter] we have a republican congresswoman who says that she couldn't agree with me more, that we need to help working moms and dads. that is good. that is progress. one republican senator wrote a policy memo saying that republicans must define themselves as the party of the american worker and the party of higher wages. that is good. i am glad they feel that way. rand paul -- he is an interesting guy. [laughter] no, he is. rand paul said that the republican party needs to show up on the south side of chicago and shout at the top of its lungs that the gop is the ticket to the middle class. i think -- i think that is encouraging that he wants to go to the south side of chicago.

no, i want all -- i want parties to compete everywhere. i think that is a good thing. i was at home on the south side of chicago yesterday. [applause] and i guarantee you that senator paul would be welcome there. we are a friendly bunch. i mean, it is a little strange if people show up and just start shouting at the top of their lungs, but we are friendly. it would be ok. [laughter] but i will say this. i'm encouraged that they are speaking about middle-class and speaking about wages. but there is this old saying. that you can't just talk the talk. donna, you got a do what? you got to walk the walk.

[applause] we have been walking the walk. and if republicans are serious about taking on the specific challenges that face the middle class, if they are prepared to walk the walk, we should welcome them. i will welcome their ideas. there is nothing i like more than an opposition party that is willing to engage with us and work with us on these issues. maybe they got different ideas but genuine ideas about how young people can go to college or how we can make sure that workers are getting raises when the ceo of the company has seen their compensation go up 50% or 100%. if they have concrete ideas on these issues, i want to hear them. i have been saying that to them since i came into office.

but so far at least, the but so far at least, the rhetoric has not matched the reality. if you want to help working moms and dads, you can't just dismiss things like child care and paid leave. work with us to treat them like the economic priorities that working families know they are. [applause] if you want to be the party of higher wages, come on! join the dozens of cities and states, companies like the gap and now walmart, raising wages. not just because it's the right thing to do but because it's good for business. don't stand in the way. you've got votes in congress. you've got votes in the house in the senate. work with us. join the rest of the country. give america a raise! let's go! let's go! [applause]

let's go! >> woo! >> i'm ready! i'm ready! [applause] if you are serious if you're really troubled with income inequality -- >> tell them! >> -- then you can't put forward proposals that give more tax breaks to the folks who are doing the best and millionaires and billionaires, and then propose more cuts to the very programs that help working americans get ahead. if you want to be the party that is paving the way for people to get into the middle class, a good way to start is stop trying to strip health insurance from millions of americans and prevent contraceptive care for millions of women and stop trying to deport millions of

striving young kids who just want to earn their shot at the american dream like the rest of us. applause[applause] help us fix a broken immigration system. there are a lot of ways to help the middle class. >> iowa! [applause] so, look, i think the shift in rhetoric that they're engaging in is good, if it actually leads them to take different actions. if it doesn't, then it's just spent. if it doesn't, if you're just trying to repackage the same top-down economics and use the words "middle class" attached to it, if you're just going to keep on cutting taxes at the top and not raise minimum wages for folks who are struggling, then

it's just spin. trying to bamboozle folks. and looking backward is not the answer. we've got to look forward. >> amen. >> all of us, as americans. >> amen. >> and democrats we've got to be the party that recognizes and responds to what americans really face in a 21st century economy. our brand of middle class economics is very specific. we detail it. here's what we are going to do. we can show you how it's going to help middle class families and folks striving to get in the middle class. we want to offer young people a stronger start. we want to work to make sure that families have more security in a world of constant change. and so we list out how we're going to help folks afford college. we specify how we're going to provide health insurance to

folks who don't have it. we talk about how we can help the young family buy a home or the family entering into middle age or retirement that they can count on. that means we have to stop treating things like child care as women's issues. we've got to treat them as economic priorities. it means we've got to stand up for unions. [applause] it means that we've got to make sure that women are earning what men do for doing the same job. it means we support a fair minimum wage. we're very specific about how we want to help ordinary folks. >> woo! woo! [applause] >> when we talk about helping people earn higher wages and better skills, we put forward

specific programs. here's more opportunities for job trainings. here are apprenticeship programs that give workers a chance to earn higher-paying jobs even if they don't have a higher education. here is how we're going to help americans burdened with student loans reduce their monthly payments. here's how we're going to make community college free for every responsible student who wants to improve their lot in life. here's our program. what's yours? [applause] tell us how you're helping middle class families, because we've got an agenda. and we know it works. [applause] don't just talk about it. we know middle class economics means we've got to have the most competitive economy in the world. so we're very clear. here's how we're going to help businesses churn out good jobs for americans to fill. and that means working to build a modern transportation and communications system. it means helping more companies sell goods overseas, with strong

new trade agreements that aren't just free but fair and level the playing field for american workers. it means investing in the research and technology that unleashes new jobs and new industries right here in america. we're very clear and specific. it's right there, about how we can do it. and we know it works, because we've seen it work before. we know middle class economics means getting rid of special interest giveaways in our tax code for folks who don't need them, so we can actually give tax breaks to middle class families who do need them. >> yes. >> we know if we close loopholes that reward companies that stash profits overseas, we can reward companies families who that invest here in america. we know if we close loopholes that allow the top 1% to avoid paying taxes on their accumulated wealth, we can use that to help middle class families pay for child care and send their kids to college and that will help the entire economy grow. we need a tax code that helps working americans trying to get a leg up in this new economy.

and that's what we're fighting for. so we don't just talk the walk. >> we walk the walk. >> we're walking the walk. >> walking the walk. >> every day. i'm telling you, democrats, we should never worry about fighting for these issues, because they are not only right the american people stand right beside us on most of those issues. sometimes that gets lost with all the money that's being spent by outside forces and the distortions and confusion. but when you actually look at the americans -- do they agree with our policies? do they think these poiferls would help -- policies would help them? and when there is a fair presentation of the policies the other side is offering, the american people are with us every time. but maybe we'll bring them around. and i think there are actual places where we can work

together, like reforming america's criminal justice system so it protects and serves all of us. and it is fair. [applause] i'm looking forward to working with them. but until they start wanting to walk and not just talk, we're going to keep offering the american people something better. we're going to offer the american people a vision that believes in opportunity, not just for a few but for everybody. we've got to be the party that believes nobody should be treated like a second class person, regardless of where what you look like, where you come from or who you love. we've got to be the party that doesn't just recognize the threat of climate change but actually does something about it for the sake of our kids. we're the party that's willing to make tough decisions. we've got to be the party that practices a better kind of politics, not just in washington but in every community in

america and that appeals to the basic decency of the american people, that sees our differences as a source of strength that gives young people a sense of purpose and possibility and asks them to participate in our great democracy, that appeals not to farefear but to hope. [applause] because this is not just about us in this room. this is not just a sports contest. this is not just about who is up and down at any given point, not about notches on a belt, not about ideological battles proving how smart you are. not about the back-and-forth of politics. it's about doing things that make peoples' lives better. it's about doing things that make us confident that america will continue on this upward trajectory that began so many years ago. it's about making this nation we

love more perfect. [applause] we are democrats! we don't just want people to share in america's success. we want to see everybody contributing to america's success and building a smarter and stronger economy, forging a better and kinder society. and writing the next great chapterrerchapter in this great country's amazing story. thank you, democrats. god bless you! god bless america! let's get to work! [applause]

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>> on wednesday, former new york city mayor and republican presidential candidate rudy giuliani said, quote, i do not believe that the president loves america. at his daily briefing, white house spokesman josh earnest was asked to comment. >> do you think rudy giuliani had lost it? >> i -- i don't know. but look, anytime we have -- there is somebody who has attained a certain level of public stature and even admiration, to see that person so thoroughly that are nish their -- tarnish their legacy it's sad. there's no element of that the people are feeling around here. i think what people are feeling is sorry for rudy giuliani. >> again on this specific allegation which, you know however you want to characterize it, he says he doesn't believe the president loves america.

>> well, again, there are a number of examples. and john you've traveled around the world with the president. so you know firsthand that there are a number of situations which the president said exactly that. the most high profile example was the last line of the state of the union, in which the country said god bless this country we love. >> what makes somebody of that stature, rudy giuliani, what makes them say something like that? >> i don't know. >> josh earnest was also asked about a recent judicial ruling striking down the president's executive actions on immigration. >> a couple of days ago, you said that the administration would make a decision in a couple of days about whether to -- [inaudible] has a decision been made? >> roberta what i can tell you is that the department of justice has made a decision to file a stay in this case. i would anticipate that they will file documents at the district court level on monday

at the latest. and so when they have filed those documents, they and we will be in a position to talk a little bit more about our legal strategy. that, of course, is separate and apart from our intents to pursue an appeal. that was something we announced in the immediate aftermath of the decision. and we will seek that appeal because we believe that when you evaluate the legal merits of the arguments, that there is a solid legal foundation for the president to take the steps he announced late last year to reform our broken immigration system. that's consistent with the way that previous presidents over the course of several decades have used their executive authority. and that is why, you know, we're going to continue to pursue this case through the legal system. >> so by filing a stay, what does that mean for people who are considering filing their paperwork for -- >> the department of homeland security has also put out a statement indicating that at this point they're not prepared

to accept applications for the program that the president announced at the end of last year. but once we have taken some additional steps through this legal process, we may be in a position to give you an yaup date about the status -- an update about the status of implementing the program. some of this will depend on the way that the question of the stay is resolved. >> you can watch the rest of the white house daily briefing on our website, c-span.org, where you can find video of all the events we cover, along with viewer-generated video clips and scheduling information. on the next washington journal a reporter with the wall street journal on the recent growth in subprime lending. washington journal live every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> here are some of our featured programs for this weekend on the

c-span networks. saturday morning, starting at 10 a.m. eastern, live on c-span, our nation's governors get together to discuss issues affecting their states. guests include danny meyer, c.e.o. of union square hospitality group, and maria barteroma of fox business news. sunday morning at 11, we continue our live coverage of the national governors association meeting. featured speakers include jay johnson and gina mccarthy. on c-span 2, saturday, book t.v. is on the road, experiencing the literary life of greensboro, north carolina, part of the 2015 c-span cities tour. and sunday at 9 p.m., on afterwards, west moore retraces his career choices from combat veteran to white house fellow, wall street banker to social entrepreneur, to find his life's purpose. and on american history t.v. saturday night, just after 7:00,

the 1963 interview of former nation of islam minister malcolm x, discussing race relations and opposition to racial integration. sunday at 6:30 p.m. eastern john tells the story to have a husband and wife kgb spy team that infiltrated the c.i.a. through the use of sex in the 1970's. find our complete schedule at c-span.orgenedc-span.org and let us know what you think about the programs you're watching. call us at 202-626-3400. e-mail us at comments@cspan.org or send us a tweet at #comments. like us on facebook. follow us on twitter. >> governors from around the country are in washington, d.c. for the national governors association winter meeting. some of them sat down for interviews with politico to discuss health care, job

creation and the 2016 presidential race. including tennessee governor bill haslam, florida governor rick scott, rhode island governor gina raimondo and virginia governor terry mcauliffe. this is two hours. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. thank you, marty. and thank you again, the second or third team, for bearing the elements to be here. it's a really exciting lineup. we're lucky to start with governor haslam, who just had -- >> how did i get the morning call? [laughter] >> he said, you come in early. >> just one reelection with 70% of the vote. congratulations on the second term. as i think was just said, former mayor of knoxville one election in 2010. since you've taken office you've dope done a lot. you stripped back teacher tenure

protections, enacted tort reform expanded charter schools. now you'll have four more years. we'll talk about some of your eagdagenda for that. you've earned a reputation in tennessee for kind of an ernest no-drama guy practical. a lot of governors have talked about you, describe you as a workhorse, not a show horse someone who is eager to talk to both sides of the policy ideas and actually wants to talk about policy, kind of that self-defacing manner that has helped make you very popular in tennessee, so much so that no real democrat really ran against you last time. all of those things made you, to some, a surprising pick to be the republican governor's association chair. it's typically a job where you

throw a lot of red meat. you're an attack dog. that's just not your style. >> it's not. i think in politics you start to get in trouble when you're not who you are, when you try to wear someone else's clothes and it doesn't work. that's not who i am, not why i ran for service. that might not be me, but i still think r.g.a. has a really important role to play, and for r.g.a. to be successful matters to republican governors like me and a lot of other people. >> first, i do want to start on the policy front and on the state solutions. you just called a special session at the start of your new term you throw a lot of red meat. you're an attack dog. that's just not your style. >> it's not. i think in politics you start to get in trouble when you're not to expand medicaid. you spent months negotiating with the federal government. you got buy-in from the hospitals, from the chamber, a whole host of different groups. then it got killed. >> quickly. >> it died a quick death in a special committee. i want to talk about what the future is there. but i also want to get the big picture, because we're talking to a lot of governors today. it's the national governors association weekend here. matt in wyoming tried to do the same thing. rick scott, our next speaker

said he wanted to expand medicaid, got nowhere. dead on arrival in the state legislature. john kasich in ohio had to go around his legislature to do it. we've seen a lot of republican governors say let's do this, let's get people coverage. then their own party's legislature blocks it. it's not unique. what do you think is going on there? what is driving that? >> i think, from my standpoint listen, i'm not a fan of the affordable care act either. but not really for the reasons that most people start with. the thing i think they messed up with was this. there are two huge issues around health care in our country. number one, access. and blocks it. it's not unique. what do you think is no matter what party you're in, you should see that if someone's primary method of health care is going to the emergency room it's not good for them. not smart cost-wise, so access is an issue. everybody should say that. the second thing is cost. my issue with the affordable care act, and if you look at how they did it, they didn't really attack the cost side in ways

that they could. everything from, you know, medicare being able to negotiate for pharmacy benefits and you can keep on going down the line for things they could have done at the time. so the issue is this. if you're going to attack a problem, you should be really upset when people take the easy apple but don't go get the hard one. the easy apple is let's cover more people. that's hard for people to that they could. everything from, you know, medicare argue against politically. if you get everybody, the health care providers are getting paid for people they weren't getting paid for, and now they are. the hard thing was to attract cost. in state government, the federal government, that's eating up everybody's government. you've all heard the joke that the u.s. government is about to be a large health care system that's got an army and a navy. that is why tuition is going up. we have to do something to address the costs. our revised kind of proposal for what to do about medicaid, we think, addresses the cost side on both the users' side by having some incentive for premiums and copays, but that you could get reimbursed for if

you made healthy choices. if you got an annual physical, things anybody can do regardless of their economic circumstances. you could get credit back to your account for that. on the providers' side, to really move toward more of an outcome based system instead of just fee for service. you're paying the anesthesiologist, the pharmacist and say, no, we're going to pay ex-dollars and -- x-dollars and pay even more if you have a good result. obviously what happened is, in our state, we have a very red state. we have 132 state legislators. 100 of them are republican. i'm the first governor in history to ever serve with a republican majority. so we went from rarely ever having a republican majority to having these -- i used to call it we went from a majority to a supermajority. now they call it a super duper

majority. anyway, we had this history kind of blue to red switch. we have so many legislators that were terrified of being identified with something that said obamacare. >> is the obamacare just brand so toxic that even though you can argue it's not obamacare -- >> there's no question. and when we made the argument, we said here's what obamacare is, everything from the individual mandate, everything they did. and here's what we're saying, in a program that, again, had premiums and copays, that really was a different idea. but it was hard to get away from that. and i think some of that -- i mean you can say well, they should get past the politics. some of that urn fortunately is the leftover residue on passing something on a totally partisan basis. that all led people to say well we can't really trust them. >> in your state of the state peach, you said -- speech, you what is next if it is such a toxic

brand? is medicaid expansion going to happen while you're governor? >> i certainly hope so. again, we think that the approach we made was a really practical, smart answer to a real problem. we still have -- you know, the program we think would have covered an additional 285,000 tennesseeians who don't have health insurance. they're getting health insurance, just in the wrong way. the emergency room is getting care at the wrong place, wrong time, wrong way. so what we want to do is provide a different way to get health coverage which is still important, and to do something to attack the cost curve, which is still important. we have providers willing to work with us on payment reform. but they're going to work with us a little more wholeheartedly if they see coverage for people that they're not getting paid for now. >> one of the opponents' arguments, and it's a substantive argument, is that the federal government is going to leave states holding the bag

that they're going to cover for the first couple of years, then they're just not going to provide the money and all these people are going to have care and it will be a tough situation. do you think the federal government will be good for the money? >> well, let me say this. this is going to sound like an odd thing for a problem to argue. but we're talking about the united states of america has never missed a medicaid payment. that's what we're talking about. that's important to remember. there is some fear from folks and that's, if you like it, you can keep it, all that stuff kind of built into the fear that people have. but in our case, we actually had really what the supreme court rule --ruling said, that said that the federal government couldn't force states to expand who they covered. so if they can't force you to expand who they covered, then they can't make you keep covering those folks. we had a supreme court ruling. we had an attorney general of our state give a ruling that said if we didn't want to cover them any longer, we didn't have

to. then we had a letter saying the same thing. but, again, people just couldn't get past the concern. >> let's switch over to education. you're kind of an education governor in a lot of ways. you accepted the top funds. you signed legislation last year guaranteeing two free years of community college tuition for tennessee high school graduates. in fact, president obama praised you during an education summit in nashville. what do you make of obama's community college plan? is it distinct from yours? >> you're always flattered to be copied. and so he came to tennessee to announce his plan. but there are real differences. and in ours, it's a last-dollar scholarship. so you fill out your form, apply for everything financially that you can get, and we pay the last dollar. theirs basically was a we will pay for you, everybody have two free years of community college. there's a reason they went their way and we went ours'.

we did it at very little cost to the state, no cost to the state's general fund. here's the reality. the gap for most people to go to community college is really small. i mean, the numbers are amazingly low. >> like they need a couple hundred dollars? >> exactly. it's four or five hundred to go for a year. but if nobody in your family has ever been to college and you don't see yourself as a college person, then you don't ever go fill out your form. by the way if you've never filled out that form, go do it sometime, and you'll understand the frustration okay? but that's just a foreign world. you don't know. study after study has shown, if you're a first-generation college student, you need somebody to hold your hand, to help fill out the form, to help explain -- when the a.c.t. comes up, you've got to take it that day. if you grew up in a college

family, if the test is on saturday you can't go on sunday. here's how it works. or the classes start. and we actually tested this program for six years prior to rolling this out. you'd have kids call their -- we put in place mentors where every student had a mentor. a mentor had five students to work with, volunteers. we have almost 10,000 tennessee people who volunteered to be mentors. the questions they got were okay, my first class is next week and it's in the mwf building. well, if you've been to college that means your class meets on monday wednesday, friday. but if you hadn't, you don't know that. you're thinking, what is mwf? there's a ling lingo and a culture about college. to the mentor piece is another distinction. >> do you opens the obama plan? >> i don't opens it. i think -- i don't opens oppose it.

states can come up with their own methods to do things like this. i think the idea we obviously think is right. but let states figure out how to do it. >> i want to transition to some political questions. i think we're going to end up taking some audience questions too. i think you all know the hashtag. #polgovs. you follow chris christie someone who did throw a lot of red meat. how is the r.g.a. different under the haslam regime than the -- >> obviously who the leader is matters, but way more than that is what really matters is to be able to have a core of governments who are committed to it. quite frankly, that's what helps you raise money as well. we're meeting up here today. the fact that we have 31 elected governors, it helps. that's how life works, right? so a lot more people are coming to our meetings, because we have 31 governors.

but i think also -- and also people are attracted to success. i mean, if you think about it, what republican governors can say is, we're actually helping i think, to change the brand. what's the rap on republicans right now? you do well in white, southern, suburban areas. but now you have republican governors who, winning in places like maryland and massachusetts and illinois, who are like, really? i didn't think you could win. i thought that was the whole red-blue map. you have greg abbott running in texas against a female candidate who had gotten a lot of note -- notoriety, in a place where republicans are supposed to be struggling. i think what we can do is show that some of the stereotypes aren't true and we can win and that effectively govern in places people didn't think we could. >> are there things that certain governors are doing that you're particularly excited about some of your new guys especially? >> yes. if you're the new governor of

illinois you've got a really hard job. the financial structure there dealing with things from pension structure, to their state general fund, it's really hard. you go talk to bruce. he has his shirt sleeves rolled up. we've got to take $6 billion out of the budget. when you start to talk about cutting a budget, in theory, you might say, that's really good. it's hard, because you're giving in to constituents and people that either really care about that service or really benefit one way or the other from that service. it's hard. so i think what you're going to see is some republican governors who are actually doing that. i personally am i tracted to people making those hard calls financially, people doing things to produce better education results. that's the challenge for all of us, in the competitive world how do we make certain of the workforce that we need?

it's really true. and in states like ours that have historically been in the bottom of the 50 states when it came to education results, to start to change that is a big deal. so when last year, when the national assessment of education progress came out, the one test given all across the country, if you want to compare states that's the one you do, because it's given to fourth graders and eighth graders. and you can really compare a representative sample of kids from every state. you really then can compare what results look like. when tennessee was the fastest-improving state in the country and actually made the biggest gain of any state ever, that was a big deal, because you actually have and an objective measure that says results are happen. >> you have three races this year. mississippi is an easy hold. louisiana -- >> the governor will be glad to hear you say that. [laughter] >> right. in kentucky, you've had steve

beshear, outgoing democrat governor. pretty popular. and he was able to win reelection pretty handily in 2011. democrats have hit a unity. press conference last week. now you have a republican primary, the first television ads of 2015 are running. the kentuckyians were bombarded with that stuff senate race. now they're getting bombarded again already. how nervous are you about the republican primary there making it harder to pick up that seat? >> kentucky is an interesting state. i think romney won by eight or ten there. it wasn't a squeak. and yet kentucky is really controlled the governors mansion except for the few years. it is a state where it's kind of the anomaly of states in that region. >> like tennessee used to be. >> exactly.

yeah. that's probably fair. and so, you know, when you talk to the mitch mcconnells of the world, they go well, we want to do what you all did in terms of flipping the state house. i don't think primaries are bad. i ran in a competitive -- in '10, i ran a competitive primary against our lieutenant governor and a sitting congressman, who is very popular. and the democrats had a solo candidate, the son of a very popular former governor. so we went through a hard year and a half long primary literally. our ads started earlier and lasted longer than the kentucky ones did. but the result was a good one, because in the process, you become better. you know the state more. and right. people see you in middle of a contest. but i don't think that's all bad, if you have good candidates. >> how likely do you think that is as a pickup opportunity? do you feel there's a greater than 50% chance? >> i don't know that yet.

we obviously think -- we have three races. you have louisiana, where jindal is going out. and he has a competitive deal. mississippi where we have a popular incumbent. kentucky where there's a democrat but we feel it's a red state that we should have a real chance in. we'll put real focus into kentucky. >> so right now republicans have 31 governorships, which definitely helps with fund-raising and everything else. the most republican governors since the 1920's. next year, 2016 map is actually pretty good for republicans. there aren't as many governor's races. a big part of your job this year is recruiting and ensuring the right candidates get in on these races. if republicans currently control 31 governorships, talk about some of the races next year. it's a presidential year which isedis bad for places like illinois and pennsylvania but good for republicans. there's opportunities in missouri, west virginia, monta. what is the -- in montana.

what is the high water mark? >> first of all, you're right. in this job, even though you're chair for one year, basically the first year of a cycle is to think through the next four years. really, what we have to be thinking about is we have a lot of republicans that came in like i did in the wave of 2010, kind of the first obama midterm. those folks will all be term limited in '18. you think of everything from martinez to haley. you can go across the map and see a lot. when i came in my republican new governors class was like 15 -- i don't remember. but it was a lot, almost 14, 15 folks. so ultimately, what you're trying to do is put in a four-year plan. when that happens everything from fund-raising to a government support system. i don't know that number yet in terms of -- we really want to be at 30, whatever. i mean, obviously when you're at 31 every pickup is big. we were shocked to basically

not -- i shouldn't say shocked. we were pleasantly surprised to get to 31 this year. >> we've gotten to 32 if not for alaska. >> yeah. of course, who saw that coming? you had two opponents kind of teamed up together against shawn. we went ahead -- governor parnell is still there. >> you're d.g.a. counterpart the democratic governor association chair, he's in cycle next year. he's up. do you think he's beatable? is that a race that you think -- >> i honestly don't know the answer. montana is a state we should be able to compete in. if you look at the national map montana is a state that republicans can go in. and i think the other thing is we've shown we can compete anywhere. you go, okay, we can compete anywhere. so that will be a race that i'm certain will get some r.g.a. resources. >> you talked about the tough decisions a lot of these governors are making tough calls, making the budget cuts.

that obviously has a negative impact on their approval ratings. you are sending constituents to support. in north north carolina, we've seen that, pat mccrory. kind of in a lot of ways north carolina had a similar issue asen tennessee. polls could potentially be very vulnerable next year. how much work can you do at the r.g.a. to help them, to make sure he's well-positioned? >> the answer to that is a lot. i think pat knows he has a very serious race coming and he's preparing that. and at r.g.a., we're preparing to help him do that. pat did come in and make some difficult budget decisions early. i think what people miss about government is this. they think you're deciding between good things and bad things when you're looking at a budget. but you're really not. you're deciding between good things and other good things. people say, why don't you build

more sidewalks? yeah, that's great. why don't you not. you're deciding pay school teachers more? why don't you do more to approve more business here. why don't you pay more taxes? not so excited about it. that's the challenge of government. it's about prioritizing. and you started talking about kind of backgrounds and how people act in office. i think it's one of those things that background matters, what you've done before. so for me, being a mayor was great preparation for being governor, because its does make you be a lot more practical. the whole there has never been a republican or democrat pothole. it's true when you're mayor. people want their garbage picked up, their streets cleared of snow on days there has never been a republican or democrat like this. they'll make sure that the drainage ditch behind their house works. all that stuff about delivering service is what's really important. i think that's one of the things you'll see from governors is we get it. people want government that works. >> do you think the next president will be a governor? >> i think -- i mean, if you look at historically, i think

there's a good chance of that. and there's a good argument to be made. listen i'm the r.g.a. chair. we have a -- well -- you have to say it. we have several of our members. i tell people, we have 31 republican governors. anywhere from three to 30 are thinking about running for president. i can say 30, because i know i'm not. we obviously have a lot of folks. it really is a practical advantage. it's interesting. we had a program. there's a program in nashville last night where former president bush, 43 and clinton were together on kind of just the two of them talking about things. you did realize, as they talked, both how much each of them were influenced as president from being governor before. >> absolutely. what is the dynamic like at this point in the presidential cycle? you're having these r.g.a. meetings, heading them all up to do fund-raising for you. a lot of these guys are doing their own fund-raising. is it awkward sometimes in the

meetings? >> remarkably not. you would think that. you would think, okay, these guys are running against each other. but remember, they've been around each other. bobby was the r.g.a. chair two years ago. and i think maybe scott was the vice chair then. chris was the chair last year and bobby was his vice chair. so they've all been working together. obviously, you know, if you're in a competitive race, you're in a competitive race and you know that. it's difficult. but they are folks who are used to that. they knew that was part of the deal when they signed up. fortunately for me, they've all said hey, one of my first things is i know a lot of you have other interests, but i need you all to continue helping r.g.a. to a person, they all said we get it. we've been in your shoes and we'll help. >> we have a couple of questions from people in the audience. and please send more. it's #polgovs. the first question is, how does

your administration intend to implement common core? >> okay. so great question. so a little background. as you said, tennessee was actually one of the first winners of race to the top. not the first, we were the big winner. my predecessor actually, a democrat, made the application. tennessee actually was awarded $500 million. so we were one of the early adopters of a lot of pieces that came with that. and due to a lot of things happening in tennessee we're actually the fastest improving state in the country, in education results. a lot of that was about raising standards for us. the issue, i tell people in tensz, is -- in tennessee, is like this. prior to this, when every state could set its own standard of what is proficient it was like we set our basketball goals at six feet. then we were so excited because everybody on the team could dunk. that was great but when we went to real 10-foot goals, it wasn't

very helpful. the process of raising our standards and being very specific about what we expected third graders to know and eighth graders to know has been really important for us in tennessee. there's -- common core it's really maybe one of the most damaged brands ever. they understand a whole lot about brand marketing. but the issue with common core is this. anything that anybody doesn't like about education they have dumped it there. >> it's not obama core. >> but it's like, if you think there's too much testing in schools, well that's common core. no, it's not. common core is about state standards. if you think you don't like the way they're teaching world history now, that's common core. no. common core is about english and math. i had a woman who is, you know, very informed woman but she was convinced that we were teaching sex education to her kindergartner because of common core. no. but if enough people believe something about a brand, that's what it did.

what we did in tennessee is this. those standards have been in place for four years. we typically review standards every six years. what we said is, that's fine. we're just going to speed up our whole review of the standards process, which we should do anyway. now we have four years of history of teachers who said, i've actually been teaching that to sixth graders for four years. this is a good expectation, this is not. so we're going back in and reviewing all of our standards to see if they're right and we're taking the four years' track record that we have. >> great. next question from richard. with the lack of federal action on transition funding, what are your -- transportation funding, what are your plans to increase funding? >> really good question. where obviously -- the federal funding really matters to state. but most states haven't changed their gas taxes either. i have said we're going to have to address that, but i don't want to deal it until we have a real long-term plan from our

transportation department. we already have a plan in terms of we've got billions of backed up projects. but a specific, if we change the funding, here's what we would do instead. second, a plan on the funding side that said it's not just a band-aid to give us two more years down the road but it has a thoughtful approach to how we'll do that. but all states are in the situation we're in. tennessee is one of the only states that doesn't use debt for our infrastructure funding. so a lot of states are actually paying more in interest now than they're receiving in in federal funds. well they just have been borrowing and always borrowing which was great as long as the federal money was coming. once that ended, you were in trouble. this started long before i got there. we got in the habit of pay as you go on roads, which is sometimes frustrating to some of the infrastructure people builders. but it's been great policy for us. >> the republicans now control congress obviously.

and they control a lot of the transitiontransportation funding. what do you make of the republican congress's first 60 days on the i don't know job? >> first of all, it's easy for governors to take swipes at congress, okay? easiest thing in the world. but our political situation is much easier than theirs. the senate is great but unless you get 60, you really can't do anything. so they have a lot of limits that we don't deal with. and they deal with -- i mean, we have partisan politics. theirs is obviously out of control where they spend a lot of time just positioning against each other. you've got to look at what the senate has actually tried to move and do versus what they did all of last year and you say there's been some progress under leader mcconnell. >> something like the dhs funding. do you watch that and roll your eyes on that issue, or is that kind of just politics as usual? >> i think it's -- i think one

of the realities, and i worry about it at the state level but it's true at the national level, there are a lot of people who make their living off of keeping things stirred up. and that's not good for the country. and in the states, we're able to fend off some of that. and i'm saying that not just about dhs but in general about the way things work around here. i think if you actually went to folks in congress, they'd tell that same thing. we're frustrated about how many people either raise money about things being stirred up or make money themselves off things being stirred up. it's a problem because it's a lot easier to stir something up than to solve the problem. >> tennessee has had a lot of success. i use the word establishment carefully, but you have kind of a tradition, howard, baker alexander, republicans. why is that? why is tennessee, you know -- why does it support kind of pragmatic republicans where some other southern states have really you know, gotten behind

the fire brands who do raise money off picking fights? >> i mean, it's a really -- i get asked that a lot. i'd love to -- i -- the best answer i have, tennessee is -- our state flag has three different stars because there's almost like three different parts to tennessee. the east, where i'm from, is mountainous. the east basically fought with the north in the civil war because slavery was never an issue, because nobody could plant anything. it's historically been republican, lincoln republican. middle tennessee is dominated by national which is a really thriving economy. west tennessee was traditionally dominated by the mississippi river. it's a delta farming agricultural again very democrat traditionally. but i think the point would be, to win you had to be able to -- you couldn't just come out of one part of the state and bowl over everybody.

you had to do well in all parts. and so it forced you to be out listening to people. i think the more you're out -- again, it's a good part about democracy. the more you're out campaigning and talking about, what do people really care about? you realize they don't care about a lot of the stuff we spend a lot of time talking on. and i think the -- again, the three different natures of tennessee forced you to go out and listen, because i mean, when i ran, i'm from east tennessee and when i go to memphis, they would be like, well, how do we know you're going to care about us? well, to win, you better show them you understand their city. understanding their city means understanding their problems. >> governor, it's been so great to have you here. this is a great conversation. thank you for the excellent questions. i really appreciate the time. best of luck on your second term! >> thanks for having me. appreciate it. [applause] >> now we are going to quickly move on and bring in rick scott

the governor of florida. [applause] governor, thank you for coming. welcome to frigid washington! >> i know. yeah. we have houses condos, we have hotels. you can move down there. it's warm. my hometown, naples, is going to be, i think 75 today. the beaches, it's clear. no rain. >> it's like 40 in tallahassee. is that hard going from naples to tallahassee? >> i don't like cold weather. i moved to florida because i don't like cold weather. i grew up in the midwest. way too cold for me. even texas was. i lived there for a little bit too. they have ice storms. >> right. >> unbelievable. >> it's normally not like this. >> yeah. [laughter] >> so thank you for being here. just quick introduction. rick scott just won reelection. bill haslam won with 70%, had a pretty easy elect.

you won by 1%. but a win is a win. >> didn't waste any dollars or any effort. [laughter] >> so you're just starting your second term. you served in the united states navy before starting your very successful business career. you joined a dallas firm, as you noted, in 1987. you cofounded columbia hospital corporation with two partners that became columbia hca. eventually the largest private for-profit health care company in america. in 2010, you kind of took on the republican establishment. i think people can kind of forget that's part of your profile. ran against a city attorney general who everybody had endorsed. you took him on. you won. and you won. the polls said you could lose again in 2014. and you won. and now you're here. now you're starting your second term. next week, you are going to pennsylvania, making a lot of upcoming trips on --

>> on jobs. >> jobs, which is something you've always loved to talk about, always are focused on jobs. tell me a little bit about this upcoming jobs trip you're planning. and what is motivating you to go on the road. >> sure. so my background is -- it's all about -- i grew up -- i don't know my natural father. mom went through a divorce right when i was born, remarried a little while later. so i have an adoptive dad. we lived in public housing. my parents didn't have jobs often. i watched them struggle to put food on the table, pay the rent. i remember when dad's car got repossessed. that's a tough life. so, in my life i always focus on jobs. i got married at 19. i have a wonderful marriage. we have two daughters. and i talk to them always about getting a job and working. so they love that. >> ha ha! >> so -- but -- so in 2010. here's where our state was. state of florida -- think about

this for a second. this is one of the most beautiful places in the world to live. we had lost 8342 -- 832,000 jobs in four the state had borrowed $8.7 billion. and nothing was changing. and so we had big budget deficits so my whole campaign was if you asked me the weather, i talked about jobs. to the shock of everybody i won because if you think about a typical family, what do they care about? step one, i want a job. people want to work. they are not looking for another government program. they want to work. when they have children they are saying i want a good education system because the shot at the

american dream is tied education and number three live in a safe community. those are the three things i thought about every day. i walked in with a $4 billion budget deficit. we've paid off $7.5 billion in debt. just to get a professional license when i started as governor it was 47 days in florida. now 1.7 days on average. what has happened is jobs have come back. 728,000 jobs. we have 88,000 people on unemployment today out of 20 million people. and we have 279,000 job openings right now in the state of florida. housing prices are way up and the state is packed. we've gone from a $4 billion budget deficit to a surplus. that's after cutting all the taxes and paying off all that debt. i am going after jobs.

i'll be in pennsylvania. i love it when other governors want to raise taxes because it's good for us. the new governor of pennsylvania wants to raise taxes. that makes them less competitive. we are competing comblobally. when you think about what you buy, how many times you say i'm only going to buy fits made in pennsylvania or virginia or america, you don't. we're competing. so when other governors raise regslation and tacks and make it more difficult for business, i want to get those jobs in florida. we are growing and we're going to keep doing it. i've done 10 trade missions around the world and we've been recruiting companies from all around the united states. and pennsylvania will be one of many states i go to. >> the new democratic governor of pennsylvania called this a political stunt. he said the stagnant economy we inherited is not our doing. you didn't come here under our

predecessor, what do you say when you get that kind of pushback. >> i've been recruiting companies. we've done in four years we've won over 400 competitive projects. we've gotten companies like hertz to move to florida. that's 700 jobs average income over $100,000. navy federal credit union. i've gone after jobs in every state. my biggest competitor has been rick perry. when i won my election in 2010 i metric but didn't really know him. we met at an event and i said i'm going to tell everybody i'm going to kick your rear because you've been the gold standard for jobs. i've gone after jobs. we went on national television joking about who is the best state. he's given up, might be running for something else. i've tried to recruit companies exrfr all over the united states and all over the world.

i want florida to be the place if you want to live in florida you can get a job and your kids with get a great education. >> how helpful was that playful competition with perry? >> it was good. texas was the god standard for job creation. they didn't lose jobs in the recession and florida lost all those jobs. if i could be perceived to be competitive with texas it was good for us. we went on squawk box and different shows together. we did forums together and i just asked him just say you are worried about us. that's all i want you to say. >> who is going to be your foil now? >> any governor that wants to raise taxes. i'm appreciative of the governor of pennsylvania raising taxes. >> i recruit from other states all the time. it's -- i think it's very difficult now for the northern states for them to compete with us.

because put yourself in position of a company. you've got to solve your customer needs f. we have a great work force which we do. if we have no income tax for your employees. very low business tax. less regulation. faster permitting, do you think you can solve your customer needs fastener florida than other states sure. that's what we're going to do. florida is the second biggest area state state for jobs, only state beating us is texas. third most technology companies in the united states. we are growing our businesses rapidly. on top of the fact we're a great tourist destination. weather is good for us. a lot of people are coming down. last weekend was the busiest tourist weekend in the history of the state of california. all that is good. we're all have 15 sea ports. with the expansion of the panama canal. the miami port will be dredged

to 50 feet. with all the ports up and down each of our coasts we should be the shipping capital for the east coast. with the strike out on the west coast, it's good for us. it was good for us in 2002 when they had it before. we're getting more shipping. >> what's a win? every job say win in it's own little way. but do you have a target of i want to bring 100,000 jobs to florida by the end of the second term? we did 728,000 my first term. >> you could say this was a job that was in pennsylvania we brought to florida? or not necessarily from pennsylvania but -- >> what you do -- the things that get all the press are the big companies like hertz moving their corporate office. most of the job creation is small companies. like i'll stop by starbucks and i go eat at restaurants where

they are busy. people are moving their businesses and a 2% business or 5% business because they are tired of more taxes and more regulation. they are tired of the weather. they are tired of all of it. if they are doing business in latin america, we are the gate to latin america. it's never one thing when you make a decision. it's a bunch of things put together. >> i want to talk about 2016. you are in a unique position the former governor of florida likely to run. a senator from florida likely to get into the race. >> mike huckabee lives there. >> everybody is making a good decision move to florida. >> you obviously close to recommend perry as you mentioned. what are you looking for in a 2016 candidate? >> i think the biggest issue we have as a country is all about

jobs. we can't have a country that has higher corporate taxes more regulation and anti-business attitude and think we're going to get jobs. all these companies competing globally. think about it. and we don't care where they are head quartered. we have to elect somebody that says my primary job is jobs. we're going to figure out how to limit the growth of government. they have to cut corporate taxes. cut individual taxes. reduce regulation. we can't have more and more and more regulations on our companies. take something as simple as obama care and what we've done to our companies. you buy produce. you could buy florida produce or mexican produce. by federal law you are supposed to know what you are buying. i'm sure you do that all the time. they are not having to imply with obama care in new mexico.

do you think their prices are going to be cheaper than ours and where are the jobs going to be? i want all the jobs in florida. we have to have a president that says we have got to figure out how to compete globally. if you've ever built a corporate -- i built a company from scratch to 285,000 employees. you try to keep your cost as low as possible because you are competing on cost. it's the same thing as our federal government and state govepls. i'm doing everything toik make florida government as efficient and effective as possible. we have the lowest taxes per capita in the united states. the most workers in the united states right now. our federal government has to do the same thing competing against other countries. because we're competing. and the jobs are going to go to other countries. i have daughters. i have a three-year-old grandson, i want them to live in the united states florida.

one does live in texas which governor perry reminds me of all the time. we are competing. we have to have a president that understand we have to fight this war on terror. our citizens are getting beheaded. citizens around the world are being killed. we have to show up. we have to show up and fight terrorism. and then we have to promote our country. i live in texas for a while. the second day you live there you start bragging about the state. that's what i'm trying to get everybody in florida to do. we have to elect somebody that says our country is the most exceptional place in the world to live. and that's what i'm looking for in a candidate. there are lots of people running. >> do you think you'll endorse when it matters? >> our primary should be next

march. most likely but i'll worry about it down the road. >> there is now talk in the state legislature primary date would be march 15. could be winner take all. >> like everything tells legislature does, i'll review it when they get it to me. >> what is your relationship like with jeb bush? >> here is what happened. i've known governor bush. i knew his brother better but i've known governor bush. we talk more about education because that's what his focus has been. you talk to people having issues at the same time. so rick perry chris christie, probably the twoy talk to the most are rick and bobby, southern states having similar issues. most of our issues are caused by a federal government that is trying to dictate how we spend

our money. it's no different than when i first came in, they had a high speed rail project they wanted me to spend our money. i'm walking in with a $4 billion budget deficit and they want me to spend money on a project they want not that i asked for. >> marco rubio was there before you. both elected in 2010 to your jobs. do you have a relationship with rubio? do you talk to him? >> i think senator rubio has been a good partner. >> there is a new public push by senate republicans to get him to stay in the senate. there is all these people in the presidential field let's hold that senate seat. do you think he should stay in the senate? >> i think if he wants to be president, he needs to run for president. no someone going to annoint you.

if he wants to be president, he has to run. i think anybody from florida running for president is good for florida because they are going to talk about how great we are doing. i'm trying to get everybody in our state to brag. if we can get those two to go brag about our state that's a good start. >> are you still talking to perry even though he's not "no" longer governor? >> yeah, i talked to him the other day. he's fun. rick is a ball to be with. he's got a lot of energy. he was out in california. >> you mentioned education in tronchese governor bush. you obviously have done a lot on education. this week you talked about scaling back testing. there is too many tests and you are looking at executive orders to reduce the number of tests kids have to take and legislative fixes. talk about this problem and your solution. >> our state has done really

well. when i recruit companies they care about taxes. they care about regulation. they care about permitting. they carry about work force and they care about the education for the kids of their workers. from the first time i start calling on companies they ask me about education. our fourth graders are number two in the world in reading. our fourth and eight graders have had the highest achievement inth last three years. we're the only state that's had student achievement gap narrow between african-american and caucasian students the last few years. our low income student hs high achievement gains last year. they do a survey every two years, we're number one for teacher quality two times in a row. we have a lot to brag about education. while we all believe in measurement, we have put in a lot of test. the way florida is set up is

different. we have districts by county. in some states like missouri have lots of school districts we have 67. and so we have state mandated tests and district manned test. last year as we were hearing about too much testing, i asked for a test investigation. so we would put out what was going on in every district. so if you go balk to teachers, do i a lot of round tables with teachers they say the state government mandating this. no, it's your district mandating that. so we are going to get rid of some of our testing. we're going to don't focus on results which is what parents and students and teachers care about. some of the tests we'll get rid of. some will happen at the state level and some at the district level. our states doing very well in education. also our universities have

performance funding tied to three things. you say what's it going to cost me do i get a job, do i make more money. that's what we're measuring this year. we'll have performance funding for your universities and state colleges. >> you support common core but you've got permission and the state passed the florida standards. bill informs here and said common core gets scapegoated for every problem in education. everything is about common core now. can you talk about common core and the governor was making the point it's a very bad brand right now but that there are underlying good things. >> a lot of common core was tied to our florida standards. and so we said we're going to use -- we're going to use florida standard. we are picking and choosing what we like.

we're continuing to make changes in what we have. but we're going to have our own standards. also a year ago we passed legislation that said the federal government is not going to data mine our students and the click lum decisions will be made at the district level. we have elected school board members in our counties and so at the local level they can make the decisions. but we're going to continue to have high standards and we're going to continue to try to outcompete every other place in the world because we are competing with the whole world for jobs. we're using our own standards. >> want to switch to healthcare, medicaid. after the 2012 election you've endorsed the idea of medicaid expansion. didn't go anywhere in the legislation. you are here for a bunch of meetings this weekend. i assume the white house will encourage you. >> i'm going to the white house dinner on sunday night. the whole table will be trying

to get me to do something the federal government wants. that's how it works. they've given up on high speed rail. here is where we were in our state when i got elected. medicaid in our state had been growing at three times the general revenue for 20 years. so it was -- and it was not a small part of our budget. it was $20 billion out of a $70 billion budget. growing at three times the general revenue is pretty tough. we passed legislation my first year and got approved by the federal government my second year that said that our medicaid program would be -- a private company would be responsible by area of the state for those recipients and responsible for quality, access and taxpayers responsible for the cost. now we have a medicaid program we can afford and one that our recipients know they are going to get good care.

two years ago just no different than my position on high speed rail. when they wanted to do high speed rail between orlando and tampa i said as long as you want to pay all the money do it. but don't tell me how to spend my money because i'm responsible for the taxpayers of the state of florida. you want to spend federal money spend it. as long as the federal government wants to pay for something they should do what they want to do but don't ask me to take it out oh of my budget. that's not happened in our state. we'll see. >> people could send questions to events and we'll get audience questions on medicaid. >> give us a block grant. if you give us a block grant. our taxpayers pay for it. taxpayers in our state are paying for this like in every other state. so give us our money back and we'll run a medicaid program.

we like to take care of our citizen, we care as much as anybody else does. >> the criticism is that the federal government is not going to be good for the money. if they are good the first three or four years. >> would you do business with them just on a long term contract with them >> >> that's a legitimate concern. you are going to expand coverage you expand coverage. >> do you think they'll change the rules midstream. >> gosh. when i got elected what was happening is the federal government would provide a grant to one of our agencies and it will it would be a two or three year grant and it would go away and everybody was like aren't you going to keep it. well i didn't start it. we stopped our agencies from doing that without talking to the governor's office. why would we do that to our citizens? get people hooked on something they didn't ask for. i travel the state every day.

no one asked me for more government programs. no one says governor we need another government program. maybe people make money off of it do. but like medicaid expansion. who is the most active is the hospital industry, i wonder why. >> we have a microphone for audience questions and i want to take some if there are any. >> do you want to move to florida? i have realtors names and everything. >> did y'all see in new york put on their tourist website that their weather was so bad everybody should just go to florida? >> my fiance would love that with this temperature. i won't tell her that offer. >> during the 14 cycle you were attacked and you've talked about education a little bit and you

won. you were attacked more than any other governor on education reform and school choice. >> on anything. >> i didn't pick the easiest state. i could have moved to a state that would have been easier but i didn't. >> do you have less sons that other folks could take from what you did in florida? even though it's a fairly red state it's still a swing state especially in a presidential year they could take from your message? >> we went after everybody. we've got a significant hispanic population. so i do -- my spanish is not perfect but i practice spanish every day. i do spanish radio . i do spanish tv. we put a lot of effort into the hispanic market. i personally believe everybody should vote for what we're doing because i don't talk to any

family that don't care about jobs or education or public safety. we went out and did events all over the state. we talked to everybody we could. we did well with especially the hispanic vote. but we went and talked to everybody. we do $a lot of events. i'm fortunate i had a wife that was willing to travel and so she did events every day around the state. this was a person when i won four years ago said i'm glad you won. you agreed i'd never have to give a speech. so we worked every day and got our message out. we didn't have 15 messages. we talked about jobs and education and public safety. then jobs, education and public safety. and then it was more about jobs, education and public safety. >> is that key for republicans nationally too.

how do republicans nationally extrapolate from our success? >> everyone cares about the same thing. everybody does. people -- and think about the people that have come to our country, what have they come for? the dream we all believe n. that's why they are here. i went and talked to them about how we're going to do everything we can to give them the same opportunity that everybody else has and that's i think our state is the best melting pot in the country. we have 200 languages spoken in our state. we have people from all over the world living in florida. if you look at especially the orlando area, you have a lot of puerto ricoens. but if you look at miami, you have a lot of people from central america and south america and they feel this is

they feel connected with our state. we are a melting pot and we like all the culture in our state. i think the biggest thing we have to do is talk about what people care about. they care about jobs. that's the biggest thing. they care about jobs. everybody wants this economy to turn around. everybody wants this economy to turn around. and i think what we have to do we have to tell our story about why our beliefs help everybody which i believe they do. i think i'm a republican. my job is to take care of families like mine growing up. that struggled to put food on the table, struggled to keep their car, struggled to pay the rent or mortgage f. those individuals do well, everybody does well. if they can get a job, there is less government need. there is more public safety. everything is better for everybody. >> you mentioned the hispanic vote. cuba has been in the news a lot recently because of president obama's move.

nancy was there this week during the congressional recess. you've opposed relaxing the embargo. is it frustrating to see all these national democrats travel to cuba when there are human rights abuses? >> the other countries that don't have trade sanctions hadn't changed at all. they are still there. and they still have political prisoners. there is no freedom of speech. if you follow what has happened in sven seoul la they are killing peaceful protestors. the only way we are going to get democracy in my belief is keep the embargo. keep the trade sanctions. if i was going to do a trade mission, do what i did, we went to 10 countries. brazil. panama spain england canada,

japan, france, do air shows that's where we're getting jobs. pennsylvania. >> there is a lot of republicans now who are saying let's get rid of the embargo, it didn't work. do you think they don't understand? why do you think there has been this snift public opinion about the embargo nationally understand florida? >> i know what i believe but i don't know why. >> do you think a republican could win florida not supporting the embargo in to 16? >> i don't know. i think big issue in our state is who is going to focus on jobs. i think what i'm looking for which i think most people are looking for let's get our economy going. let's defend our country from terrorism. let's fix obama care. let's have somebody that brags about our country. we have an exceptional country.

let's brag about it. let's don't elect somebody that's going to apologize. >> we have a question. >> good morning governor. you talked about performance funding for your state colleges and universities. you also spear headed a $10,000 bachelor's degree in the state of florida. can you talk a little bit further about the nex axis of higher education and economic development, particularly having the access for students in your state to obtain and upgrade their skills? >> i'm probably older than most people in this room. when i went to, jr. college it was $200 a semester. the university was expensive. for 15 hours it was $255.

books weren't very expensive. if you want to give people a shot at the dream of america, make education more affordable. why does it have to cost this much? if you think about in business, your expectation is things can get cheaper and the value equation gets better. how does that happen with education? so i challenged all of our state colleges. we have 28 state colleges. 2 have four year degrees. i said can you do a degree for $10,000. they all did it. it's all in areas where there is jobs. we're going to expand that. total tuition for four years was $10,000. this year we're going to expand it to get more stem degrees there. at our universities they were raising tigse at 15 plus% a

year. 15 plus percent a year. if have you lots of money, it didn't matter. if you don't have a lot of money. don't want to borrow thousands and thousands of dollars, then how do you pay for it? so finally my fourth year we got that stopped. and so the cost of a prepaid plan, the four years before i you could buy a prepaid policy for a newborn $14 a month. by the time i got it stopped, $ 54 a month. you have two his, who is going to be able to pay $700 a month? we want tower -- our kids to gret -- get degrees. we said we want them 0 get degrees in areas where there's

jobs. there are a lot of jobs in our state. we recruited all these aerospace and other companies that need the stem crafts. funding was $20 million last year $200 million, this year will be $460. but when you think about that, i care about degrees, so do -- part of it is tuition. part is how fast you get through but make people start thinking about -- just think about when you were going to school. remember how hard it was to get the classes you needed? and you're the darn customer. if a retail business did that to you you would stop going there. then we're trying to get the text book costs down. i talked to one student the other day and one textbook costs $500 for a freshman

class. $500. that's crazy the we're focused on tuition, the cost to get a degree do you get a job? i asked the universities when i came in, give me all the surveys you do of employers telling you where all the jobs are. you know how many i got back? zero. zero. in business you are doing customer surveys all the darn time. it's ar -- already changed the conversation now. they're all thinking, how do we get people through here faster? where are the jobs? and it's good for everybody in our state. >> jeb bush used to talk about big, hairy, audacious goals. you have this tablet ahead of you, fours years, you've just won the election. what are your big, hairy, audacious goals for the second term? >> the biggest goal i have is

by the time i get out of office we will become the number one place in the world to get a job. if we are, here's what happens. we have record funding for k-12 education, record funding for universities, for state colleges, for transportation. so we have -- and we continue to -- we have the lowest taxes per capita in the country. so it's all tied to making our state a place where people say if i'm going to build a business i'm going to build it in florida before i think about any place else because i know i can compete locally better there than any place in the world. that's my goal, that when we're finished that's what we'll -- people are going to say, florida is the absolute best place in the world to get a job. >> florida governor rick scott, thank you for being here the >> thank you.

>> thank you, susan is. and everyone. i'm peter the executive editor of politicico. soon to be joined by the governor of rhode island. thank you so much for joining us for the afternoon session. >> thank you. >> let's get started. you are number dush one of a dwindling number of democratic governors and even rarey -- rarer, you are in your first term as a democratic governor. but you ran on a reform platform that actually alienated some traditional democratic constituents. is that a recipe more people should be following to try to at the state level get number of governors up?

>> i don't know if that's a recipe. the theme much -- of my campaign and i think the reason i won is that i was relentlessly focused on economic development and job creation and i think, you know, every advertisement that i -- my campaign good -- did was focused on that, and that was a bet that we made. but the work i had done around pension reform, which was difficult, certainly did alienate some of the public sector labor unions and that made it difficult in the primary. i said, look, it's time for a governor who's got the courage to take on the tough issues and get things done and i think i convinced people i would sues -- use that same courage i used in fixing the pension to fixing the ailing economy. >> there's a large number of democrats that are reform democrats that feel as though teacher tenure and, you know,

charter schools and other education innovations aren't really -- are really necessary. there's another group that tends to support the union position, which that is lot of this is teacher bashing and so on. . so -- and so some of the very powerful public sector unions you took on -- >> democrats and all public servants need to be honor about -- honest about the reality. if we have schools that aren't educating our children and aren't what they need to be, they -- we need to face that and if that means making changes that some aren't comfortable with we need to do that. i think we ought to treat teachers like the professionals that they are, give nem the suportdthoo they need and then

-- then hold them accountable the i have two kids in public school. every teachish -- teacher i know wants to be held accountable and to be treated like a professional. as a mom i sure want my kids to be well educated. >> i reviewed a power point you had, i gather, presented to a large number of rhode island leaders about the daunting task of the next four years the growing budget gap projected over the next four years combined with the a stagnating economy, will -- 47th among the 50 states. you have to invest more in job creation. how are you going to do that with a budget zpwap in >> that's the challenge. you asked the question. i tell people that i really have to thread the needle on this. i'm facing a huge budget doifments rhode island, just to give you a sense of what we're dealing with rhode island has

one of the weakest economies in the nation. it might be a surprise to you because we're between new york and boston. we have great, amazing universities we ought to be a thriving economy but we're not. we were crushed when the manufacturing sector left and we didn't reposition ourselves for high-growth industries. so i'm in a position where we're facing a $200 million shortfall. the natural instinct would be to cut and there have to be some cuts. but you can't just cut your way to prosperity or job creation. we have to cut in the areas where we spend too much or that aren't job creating and then reallocate that money to job training, skill development economic incentives for businesses, and that is exactly the task before me.

but those are tough choices. i have to take a hard look at medicaid, for example. we're the second highest in the country spending per enrollee. not necessarily doing a great job taking care of them but spending a lot of money doing it. and building roads bridges schools, and fundamentally get people back to work. >> earlier, on the earlier schedule we were to be joined by governor nixon of missouri and talking to some of his staff, their plan for the return of the future is the return of american manufacturing. they're convinced missouri is going to be a big beneficiary of that. so many jobs have been lost in rhode island. can -- is that realistic? could rhode island benefit from a rebirthd of american manufacturing? or is it better to go with the sort of knowledge economy like boston and new york? >> i think you have to do both.

you have to do both. we have to figure out what we can be really good at. manufacturing is a piece of that. manufacturing today is the knowledge economy also. you know, i always say it's not my dad's manufacturing. my dad -- once upon a time rhode island was the mecca of jewelry manufacturing. speidel, bulova, tiffany. that's what we did in rhode island, made beautiful jewelly -- jewelry and watches. my dad worked at the bulova watch factory. that went away. but new manufacturing,nology-based manufacturing if you will is coming back to america and rhode island is absolutely poised to get its fair share of that manufacturing in areas of excellence like marine technology. you know, i believe rhode island ought to be the

boat-building capital of the world. we have newport, bristol. we ought to go where we can be great. >> one of your critiques in the power point presentation was that there wasn't enough flexibility in the tax code in rhode island to attract businesses. that's a very controversial position. a lot of people think if you give away the store to get some factory that is going to be in massachusetts 20 pliles away and move it to warwick, it looks like a big success for the governor but in fact it's a zero-sum game that's hurting all the neighboring states. you think that could work though? >> i do. it's a balance. i said in the campaign and this is a core difference between me and the republican opponent. often the republican playbook is just cut taxes and all good

things will happen. i don't agree. you have to have low enough taxes that business wants to be there. i used to run a business. you need streamlined government, reasonable taxes, but you also have to invest in your workers. you need high-skill workers. in ohio -- rhode island i want us to have a higher minimum wage. excellent training problems. here's the thing. give you the bad snuzz. rhode island and america, we can't compete on price any more. if a company wants the lowest cost of labor, they're going to china and i don't want to be the lowest cost. i want to compete on quality. so yeah, we have to be low cost. enough to be competitive, including with taxes and provide incentives but at the end of the day we have to compete on quality, which is skill and know-how and that takes some investment. >> mainly id -- education you

are thinking of? >> absolutely. mainly education, innovation, research and development. if you look at the economies in america that are really humming, including massachusetts where i know you are from, they're -- their, you know, number of patents per capita is through the roof. glen -- again, they're competing on quality. companies want to be there because they're centers of research and innovation and new ideas. i need to position rhode island in there. >> what is your theory on sort of what went wrong? you mentioned massachusetts. the traditional view is that massachusetts is in business because there are all those universities there high quality of life, except when the snow is six feet high, but the attractiveness of the lifestyle. it's the same lifestyle that providence and newport have and

you have brown university of rhode island, a lot of colleges and universities. what went wrong in rhode island? how did i rhode island not benefit from the same forces that helped massachusetts and new york? >> i'll tell you what i think, my theory. massachusetts has done a great job of partnering and collaborating. government can't do everything the government cannot make an me -- economy work. it has to be a collaboration and bombs up. great things happen at the intersection of universities working with government, working with business, and massachusetts and pittsburgh and other places that have had a renaissance, they've nailed that. and rhode island hasn't. we just haven't brought together -- yeah, we have brown university and rhode island school of design but we haven't married them with industry. you know, turn those great ideas into commerce. the other thing, candidly, as a

state we were just too reliant for too long on manufacturing. you know, just so everyone knows, rhode island was hurt more than almost any state in the country, more than michigan, in the number of manufacturing jobs we lost and we were very dependent on manufacturing 10 years ago. so we waited too long to reposition ourselves. my dad, he always had a simple way of describing things. he said, you know, gina, i could see it, when i was working in the jewelry shornings all the jewelry shops were going away and massachusetts, they got into computers. that was his way of saying they got into i.t., they tapped into m.i.t. and harvard and the urts the rhode island stayed still. we can't stay still any more. we're getting passed by. >> is the difference between massachusetts and rhode island also about the political culture there? >> is there a more kris --

cohesive political culture in the other states? >> i think so. ride -- rhode island has been for a long time far okial -- parochial, inward thinking inward looking the inherently if you are inward looking you are in -- not innovative. we need to be more innovative, collaborative and we need to move faster. it's not acceptable -- it drives me crazy when i hear from people it took me a year and a half to get a permit, i was on hold 45 minutes to get unemployment insurance. that isn't ok. i got to fix that. the basics of government needs to work and we're going to get after that. >> there's also been a lot of attention to the congressional inaction on a lot of issues, transportation most prominently

but a lot of things that help the states have been slowed down and become objects of dispute here in washington. what do you want from the federal government for rhode island? >> i want them to show up and get things done. sometimes it feels like the federal government has left the building and nothing is happening. figure out a way to fund infrastructure. i don't know a single person who says it's a bad idea. don't talk about management versus labor, us versus them. we got a problem people. let's be practical and fix the problem. our infrastructure is falling a part. we have the money as aflation to fix it. there is no question lack of infrastructure investment is holding us back. we are less competitive. travel to europe and asia. they have -- they are ahead of us. and we have the money to do it. so get to work, fix your problems. >> have you talked to folks in

washington about that? >> you know, as you might expect i'm pretty aggressive and vocal because i've got a state that's 48th in job growth so i need to do everything i can. i talked to our delegation. right now we're in the minority but they are working hard and i encourage them to speak up. don't sit on the said -- sidelines, don't be afraid. don't care about your next election -- election, do what's right. >> ok. great. we have people with microphones heesh in the crowd who might have questions for governor raymondo. -- raimondo. back over there? >> i guess somebody has to break the ice, i should say. governor, how can we decrease the cost of medicaid without

decreasing eligibility or benefits and at the same time deal well. population that's accessing care in the wrong location at the wrong time? >> i think what you said at the end it the answer. you know, we -- just because we're spending a lot of money doesn't mean we're doing a good job. there are many people in nursing homes who could be at home and frankly would probably rather be at home if they could have the proper wraparound services. the reality is in medicaid a small number of very complex patients we need to die better

job of mcing those patients. if you keep running them through the system they keep showing up and then they're back back in the nursion home, they have a fall, and a third of the money is before long spent on a third of 9 population. so manage them better and mazz -- that's the way to bring costs down. if you just go after it and say we're going to cut eligibility and rates, you're going to hurt people and in the long run i'm not even sure you are going to save money. we all know, as a mom, my son he has hay lot of ear infections and thank god we have great health care so i'm able to get him in to the doctor, get him on his meds right away, i'm at work at 9:00 and life it -- is good.

if i didn't have health insurance he would get sicker and get much more expensive. so cutting eligibility for poor kids and denying them access is not good health care and doesn't save money. >> i'm from lincoln, rhode island and moved to virginia. >> move back! >> no, i was also finance director in a coastal community in rhode island and it's just the level -- i hate to use the word corruption but it's pervasive and just because of the smallness of the state mobile is too small and everybody wants to get connected and once they're connected they have an inroad

the the other knish -- issue governor, the most powerful person in the state is the speaker of -- speaker of the house. i thought you had more power as -- power as treasurer than you may have as gofrlt just comment on some of those issues if you can. >> it's funny the tell me your name? >> rob. >> rob i had no power as treasurer. the power i had was derived from the people. that's the poufer the governor has. to make the case for the people. and that's what i'm going to do i'm going to tell the people of rhode island what i think is best for them and the whole state and for our kids, and then i'm going to invite them to get involved. for too long what's happened is the governor proposing a budget and the general assembly takes the bm and often in the dark of

night they hack it every which way and out pops a budget. that's bad for everybody as far as i can tell. my job is to shine a lighted on that whole process and make sure the voice of the people is in that room and even better that the hearings take place in public in the day and give everybody an opportunity. and the truth of it is for pension reform, at the end of the day the reason that that happened is because the average member of the general assembly was more afraid of their regular constituents than they were of the special interests and the lobbyists and they did the right thing for all the people. and so that's what i need to do and that's what any leader needs to do, what any executive needs to do, what the president needs to do. you can't force your ideas on people. you got to make your case to the people and fire them up enough to get them behind what

you are trying to do. >> one thing that occurs to me -- we'll get other questions in, too, at some point -- the issue of regionalization what massachusetts may have done right and new york may have done -- the states in the northeast don't do a great job except on a few discred -- discrete issues. but i heard you attended the inauguration of charlie up in boston a gesture -- the two states aren't competing they have common interests. what could help aught -- all the states in termss of cooperation? >> i did attend governor baker's inauguration. of course he's a republican and

i'm a democrat. that was an important symbol that we want to work together. the particular thing i'd like to work with him on is energy. energy policy. it's clearly a regional issue, a regional challenge. you know, energy cost is very high not just in rhode island but in massachusetts and throughout new england. it's a supply issue and no one state can solve that on their own, so that's a specific issue i want to work with him on to see if we can come up with a regional strategy to in the long run move to renewable and in the short run see if there's a natural gas opportunity to increase supplies so we can bring down prices. you talk about manufacturing the manufacturers consume a lot of energy. even if i create great, skilled programs which we will do and bring in manufacturers and r &

d they want to be next to, if our energy costs are 25% higher than in other regionans -- regions, that's a hard thing to overcome. >> how would you deal with that? it's still much more expensive especially than natural gas so it's not in the short term going to help the manufacturing cost to be converting to renewables. how would you manage that? >> it's true. my own view is i am a proponent of natural gas as a bridge to renewable because we need energy pricing relief right now, and as a practical matter at least where we live it's the only option. in fact, most consumers in rhode island, that's what we use is natural gas. i know charlie agrees with me on this. so the challenge of course is the pipeline has to go through massachusetts to come to rhode island, which is why i need to

collaborate with him. but i think it's in his best interests as well, for the consumers in massachusetts. so the first thing is in the short term work on the natural gas to increase the supply, which brings down costs, while over time up get to renewables. >> a couple twitter questions leer. one is how does the governor plan to implement the common core in >> i'm a supporter of the common core. i think we need to stay strong and stick with it. i'm of the view that most folks who don't like the common core it's for a political reason, not a substantive reason. i think we're letting kids down if we lower our standards. when companies hire, they're not lowering their standards. the brutal reality is education is still the great equalizer. it's the reason i am where i

am. my grandpa started as a cook's helper and i wound up at harvard with a successful career. i think we need to move to the common core, set aggressive targets and keep our standards high. now, the way that teachers teach to achieve the common core, i think there should be flexibility. i think there should be great flexibility so teachers can figure out how to get to those standards. but i don't think we should lower our standards. >> one final question. hillary clinton came up in campaigns with you. obviously you're somebody quite comfortable with the idea that she could be the nominee in 2016? is there really a difference, you're the first woman governor of rhode island, being a woman leader and what is that difference? if you were making the case for -- that we need a woman president right now, what is

the value added for everybody? >> i do support hillary clinton. i hope she runs and if she does i will support her because she's a person of action, knows how to get things done -- done and is willing to do the right thing and that's what we need. having said that, i think it's time for a woman president. i do and i sure think we were overdue for our first woman governor in rhode island. i hear that every day. every single day i've been governor i hear from a little girl who thinks it's the greatest thing ever that we have a woman gore. the thing is, it's a powerful, unspoken symbol of you can be whatever you want to be if you work hard enough. you don't have to be a man to be in the top job. so having women in positions of authority makes a difference. it's greatly empowering for other women and also young girls. i also think it's a good thing

to have a mom as a chief executive. we recently -- you agree with me? we recently had a blizzard in rhode island, and we got through it. the things they don't teach you in school. you learn about taxes but not dealing way wlizzard. i immediately called for a travel ban baud -- because i wanted everybody to be safe. i wanted everybody to stay home. my kids said you use that'd serious mom voice that's why everybody listened time-out but i heard over and over that i was the first governor who talked about the safety of the guys driving the plows and just keep off the roads so we can them and their families safe and they can do the work. so i think i bring a different perspective as a woman and as