of work to do in the next 20 months. we need to listen to the voices of those who set us on our own life journey, and those who we when bill and i were at the hospital waiting for our granddaughter to make her grand entrance, one of the nurses said to me, thank you for fighting for paid leave. [applause] and i looked at her and thought here she is taking care of other people's babies and having to worry about what happens when her child gets sick. and how she makes all of that work. her words stayed with me. i remember being a young mother and having all of the balancing act that we all have to do.

and i remember one morning, getting ready to go to court and my babysitter was sick, my daughter was sick. i was calling desperately to find somebody to come. finally found a friend who came and stayed, thankfully. but it just made me so sick inside because i had to leave my daughter. and i rushed home after i finished in court. chelsea was fine, sitting there with my friend. and for the first time all day my heart stopped taking. that was one day for me. for so many moms and dads, that ache is with them everyday. that is what the nurse was talking about. that is what we have to stand up for. that is what emily's list is fundamentally about.

when i look at this room, i see leaders. and my hope today is that whatever you have done, if you were in that basement with ellen all those years ago, or if you have just discovered emily's list and are a first-time member that you will redouble your efforts in the next months. don't you want to see more women running for school boards who will fight for better schools for our kids? don't you want to see more women running for mayor and governor, who will put our families first? [applause] don't you want to see more women running for congress, who will follow in the footsteps of barbara mikulski and champion equal opportunity? [applause] and i suppose it is only fair to

say, don't you someday want to see a woman president of the united states of america? [applause] well, in many ways, all of these questions, all of these questions can only be answered by you. so please, be recommitted. recommitted to emily's list. do everything you can to help us organize. take up stephanie's challenge. let's make this a movement. let's be sure that we do all we can to fulfill the vision of emily's list. the women who have gotten out there in the arena, those who have won and those who have lost -- and i have done both -- you

actually learn more from losing. but stand with them. stand for them. and be sure that it is not just an evening like tonight, but a commitment every day. because there is so much at stake. i am grateful that emily's list has been there for 30 years. i am so appreciative to all of you who have made that possible. now, we just have to resolve that it will probably be even harder. the stakes could not be higher for american women.

for all those who will benefit from their commitment, their victory, and make sure we go from strength to strength. let's keep up our pressure. let's understand what we are facing. let's go forth and win elections. thank you all very much. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> on friday, for the -- former

florida governor jeb bush traveled to iowa to attend a fundraiser for david young. he talked about campaigning with his father in iowa, his tenure as governor, and other policy issues. this is 25 minutes. >> hello, folks. how are you? come on. [applause] let's sound alive, shall we? i want to thank you very much for coming out tonight. friday night. there are a lot of other things

to do. the state best alternate is going on. but you are here, and i appreciate that. we are 20 months away from 2016 elections. you are wondering what i am doing this so early for. you have to raise funds to get the message out. so thank you for being here. i want to recognize a few people. greg and ski is here -- gansky is here. thanks for your service. we have some state representatives. thank you for coming tonight. i appreciate it. thank you very much. [applause] and my mom and dad and my sister are here. thank you very much. when you put your name on the ballot, it is like you are voting for family. they are so invested. applause for the family. [applause] a month and a half ago, my phone rang.

and i answered it. david? yes. this is jeb. jeb? jeb bush. unlike, governor. david, congratulations on your race. what do you -- i need to do in iowa? i said, you need to get your tail here as soon as you can. i have state fairs coming up. a few months away. come out and i will walk you around. all of a sudden, he is here tonight. he got here faster than i thought. i want to talk about leadership quickly. iowans americans, demand leadership from those they elect. we have avoidant leadership right now in washington. we have void in leadership.

when that void happens, it turns into a vacuum. a vacuum is filled with complacency. characters around the world who want to do us harm. we need leadership in washington dc. we need leadership from a president. i have studied this gentleman's record in florida, and he provided leadership. we also want a president that respects the rule of law and the constitution. we are not getting that right now. we have seen a president unilaterally change is affordable care act, obamacare on his own, through executive actions. if the president does not like a lot, we have something called the house of representatives and the senate. it is called the congress. there are three branches of government, if you did not know. he needs to be reminded of that. he also said 22 times that he could not do what he wanted to do last november.

but he did it anyway. it is like he spoke and a was created. three memos. that is scary, folks. we need a president that respects the rule of law and the constitution. that being said, thank you for coming out. iowans take our politics very seriously. we have candidates come out, we see the commercials, sometimes we shake our heads. it is better that iowa chooses our president then new york or california. we pick more than corn. we pick presidents of the united states of america. [applause] i do not know who you are going with folks, but welcome to iowa. thank you for being here. ladies and gentlemen, governor jeb bush. thank you, congressman --mr. bush: thank you, congressman.

i do not know why all the press is here, but it is nice to see them too. thank you for continuing to serve. thank you for supporting your congressman. he is going to need your help going forward. early money does matter. i want to get the legal part of this out of the way. i am seriously considering the possibility of running for president. all of that allows me to talk about that possibility in a way that does not trigger a campaign. so thank you for allowing me to be lawyered up and get that part right. i have fond memories of violent. i got married when i was 21 years old. my life can be divided between bc and ac. i met my wife when i was 17. it took three years to convince her. i was ready to marry her than. i lost 20 pounds, could not sleep.

fell head over heels in love with this young woman from mexico. they kind of changed my life. part of that was we got married quickly. we had two kids. i came back to work and my dad's campaign. most of that time was right here in iowa. it was a blast. i learned to do things i cannot imagine doing. i learned to make a fool of myself speaking. i went to the pork roast twice. i saw chuck brantley everywhere i went. [laughter] what an inspirational person. there must be four or five of him at any given time. in the weekends, he is at five different places. i love the state and had a good time. my dad won which was a spectacular experience. i have been to an iowa where my dad lost and been there when he won.

i like the winning part better to be honest. i am excited about the prospect of running because i have a record i think people might be interested in learning about. i got to be governor of a purple state. a crazy, wild state. there are a few iowans in florida, last time i checked. they migrate their once in a while. as governor,, as a candidate, i got to say what i was going to. i talked about cutting taxes, changing our education system. turning the system upside down so that people could prosper. for eight years, i got to act on my conservative principles and it worked. just in case you are worried. the cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. we reduced the state government workforce by 13,000 people during my time.

but the number of jobs created in the state during those eight years was 1.3 million net new jobs. you're the only state during those eight years to go to a aaa bond rating without raising taxes. without having broad-based taxes that in the old days people said you needed to have. we restricted government spending. personal income group -- growth grew faster than government spending. we put in place conservative principles that made a possible for us to garner a aaa bond rating. i vetoed 500 line on its in the budget. over $2 billion, earning the reputation of veto corleone. we created a process, and it legislature went beyond the process, their items were not being looted. we -- included. we eliminated affirmative action

and replace it with a model that was not discriminatory but nature that people who had a chance to go to university did it. we had more african-american and hispanic kids attending our universities because they were well-qualified. we were the state that created the first statewide voucher program. we expanded school choice, public and private. we limited social promotion in third grade, this insidious policy that says if you are functionally illiterate in third grade, it is ok to go to fourth grade when you are reading to learn, if you can't read, you can't learn. become -- we cut the number of people that were functionally illiterate in half. this is a state that has more democrats than republicans. we had taken on the teachers unions across the board this. record is what is necessary to get back on track. if you have a president that

could work with david and others in congress, if we fix how we tax, how we regulate, how we move our job training programs so people have another chance to be able to move up in this disruptive economy, if we created a more peaceful, secure world i restoring america's presence in the world, this would be the greatest time to be alive as an american. i honestly believe that. my hope is that the 2016 campaign for these races will be about what we believe in, what we are for, that we drive people towards our cause. that we are not as reactionary but much more positive about the future of our country. it is therefore us to fix. when we fix it, the country will lead the world for a long while. that should be worth fighting for by electing principle conservatives like congressman young and others. i hope that you continue to stay involved and make it happen.

i continue to stay involved in some fashion. i will let you know later with that turns out to be. but i am excited to be here and really appreciate your support for david young. god bless you, thanks a lot. [applause] >> questions? mr. bush: if the hard questions come, david will answer them. yes, ma'am? [inaudible] mr. bush: what i am for our higher standard, assessed fatefully, so we know where kids

stand. the more important thing is that they are higher than existing standards in every state. states that do not want to participate, that is fine. no big deal. they ought to be advocating higher standards in their states as well. in reality, after spending more per student in any country in the world, that is where we stand. other than luxembourg. and a couple other rounding errors. i got politifact'd on that. about a third of our kids were college or career ready. it is shameful. it should deeply disturbed everybody that once our country to progress and rise up. the skills required to be successful in the world we are in today and moving towards requires much higher critical thinking skills. it requires the kind of learning

that would allow you to get a job. too many kids are held back. think of the number of people that cannot get into the military right now because they are not military-ready. raising expectations and having act assessments of where kids are is tantamount, essential for success. i am not going to back down on the. what i can tell you is that the federal government should not be involved in this. this is an iowa deal. that is where it should stay. the federal government should not have a role in influencing, directly or indirectly standards or curriculum or content. our tradition in our country is the right one, where it is locally administered and state-driven in terms of policy. [applause] yes? [inaudible] mr. bush: yes sir.

well, i have had a front row seat. as many of us have in the last years of how foreign policy used to be a bipartisan deal. i think we need to restore it. there was a bipartisan consensus that american power, with restraint, was a force for good in the world. and it was. our presence in the world, hundreds of millions have been lifted out of poverty. if you had to pick the one institution in the world that should get as much credit as any other, it is the united states navy, keeping the sea lanes open. as we pull back our military commitment, there will be uncertainty about that. this president is the first president, i believe, in the post-world war ii era that does not believe the military power is a force for good in the

world. his pullback is not good for us or the world. it has created uncertainty instability, and greater risk for the homeland. the next president has to restore an american presence where our allies know where we stand. for they do not think that we are pulling back. we are not pivoting, doing things that create uncertainty. we are involved and they know we have their back. our enemies fear us a little bit. they know we will act should certain things occur. neither one of those things is happening right now. these boys are being filled by asymmetric threats of terror and by states taking advantage of our weakness. restoring that alliance, rebuilding the military, shifting to the 21st century, we have new threats that did not exist a decade ago. cyber security, threats of terror, defending the homeland and protecting civil liberties

-- we need to continue to be engaged to make sure no attack takes place in our own country. this president, his former secretary of state has let us down in this regard. [applause] [inaudible] mr. bush: the question is, thoughts on the national debt. any ideas i have. first and foremost, there is no way we will get out from our entitlement mess, which is going to be more and more a reason why our debt is growing faster than our ability to pay for it. unless we grow the economy. we should be growing -- that should be the first priority. every policy should be focused on will this create jobs, income for the middle class? will this allow people at the bottom to rise up? will we grow and generate

revenue for government? more importantly, revenue for people. right now, our policies are about stymieing economic growth. if we work to grow at 4%, which sounds like an incredibly naive belief almost impossible to imagine, 4% growth is basically the average up until the last decade. a 4% model would mean we embrace our energy revolution of north american energy with american ingenuity and innovation. we would fix a broken immigration system where the rule of law would be applied. where our borders were secure, but we would narrow family petitioning. we would simplify the tax code. reduce rates. not have tax expenditures, but allow people through transparency and simplicity to know what the rules are.

let them invest in their own dreams and not have exotic ideas from washington dc. the same would apply to regulation. if we did those things, our country would grow at a faster rate. we are not going to solve our debt problems until we grow the economy at a faster rate. we need to start passing budgets again. right, commerce and -- congressman? the textbooks are going to be rewritten pretty soon. the idea that every eighth-grader knows, the house passes a budget, the senate passes a budget, they go to congress, presented to the president, the president signs it or less it to become law without the signature or vetoes it, we have not had that in five years. we need to put the priorities back in order and challenge the aspects of how we make money. much of what is going on in washington is because it has been going on in washington. it is inertia that allows it to happen.

when i was governor, i had a chance to take this kind of approach. we challenged everything. it was fun. if you are policy oriented going through the budget and challenging every aspect putting performance criteria around things, asking if they could be done better at the state level, normally the answer is yes. asking the questions, what are the outcomes of this program? can it be done better? does it have to be done at all? there are lots of things we can do to limit government spending. if we grow the economy, we will get our debt situation in better stead. the final thing i would say is the big elephant in the room is entitlements. that is what is going to begin to take more and more of the resources. had we not had a monetary policy that has just been so expensive and brought so much liquidity in the marketplace and brought interest rates down to nothing. had the treasury not reduced

majority, even though the debt has doubled it is lower today than it was a decade ago. many -- minute interest rates get back to normal place, our entitlements are going to ease. -- eat everything. we have to reform our system in a bipartisan way. there is no way this can be done jamming down people's throats. our country is way more dynamic than what people realize. even today, we are growing at a rate which is better than all but a handful of countries. we are the most dynamic, spectacular country on the face of the earth. we just have a bad government holding us back. yes, sir? [inaudible]

mr. bush: the question, health-care. two doctors have a patient relationship that has been stores under -- torn asunder. i think we restore it by repealing, if possible post-presidency of barack obama the affordable care act. and replacing it with a model that is consumer-directed. where patients have more choices. where they have more of a direct relationship. where the subsidies, if there are subsidies, our state-administered. if there are exchanges, they are not coercive exchanges where there is no employer mandate or employee mandate or requirements of services provided that are extraordinary. where people have more customized types of insurance

based on needs. it is more consumer driven. they are more engaged in decision-making. they have more choices than what they have today. when i was governor, we did something similar with our medicaid program. i do not know if you take medicaid patients. it is not the greatest insurance. in florida, we have lower reimbursement rates. we created a system where we had choice counseling for medicaid patients. it was a defined contribution plan. he said to the government in washington, we will take a fixed amount, but we want to have the freedom to be able to craft policies and a way that will lower costs, improve outcomes focus more on prevention. and we did that. the result was that patients were more satisfied. physicians, instead of dropping out of medicaid, did not do so. even today, that is a big problem in florida. we lowered the cost of medicaid for the state budget. i think there are ways to do this. probably 50 ways to do it, to be

honest with you. the system should not be top-down driven from washington dc. [inaudible] mr. bush: look, i just bragged about the florida medicaid plan. if iowa has access to an insurance plan for the underinsured, we should know about it. this is what our federal system does best. i was asked in the pre-reception to sign a constitution. sign the part that you admire the most. that is the hard thing for someone who loves the constitution.

i was chairman of the constitution center, the organization that runs the museum in honor of our constitution. i signed the 10th amendment of the bill of rights. i think the power of our country, when we are doing it right, we are doing it by trial and error at the local and date level -- state-level. when there is a consensus, the federal government begins to act. the progressive liberal approach has created chaos. we are frozen in place. it is not just health care, though, certainly, health-care is the place that has gotten attention. it is how a kill it -- agriculture is regulated. they're deciding that every place has to be done the same way. children cannot work on family farms. dust is defined as a pollutant. carbon is viewed as a pollutant, when it never was established in the law. we need to