my father losses mother when he was nine years old. he went to work for the next 70 years of his life. my mother was one of seven girls raised in cuba by a poor family and a father disabled by polio. they had dreams when they were young. they couldn't. they found themselves in a society that told them that you can't do those things. i want you to imagine what that must felt like. no matter how hard you try there are things you cannot do because of where you come from. 1956, they came to the one place on earth were people like them could have a chance. they never made it daycare. they were never rich or famous, but they were successful.

a few decades removed from poverty, they owned a home, had stable jobs, retard with security, and let their children better off. that is our story. it defines us as a nation of people. it is what makes us exceptional and different. it is our identity. today, it is in doubt. there are millions of americans who believe we are no longer that kind of country. let me tell you why. you may know them or you may be them. they are living paycheck to paycheck. they had a great child -- job 10 years ago, now it does not go far enough. their are one unexpected expense away from disaster. the young people went to school got a degree, and now they can find a job. the person trying to start a small business out of the spare bedroom of their home -- yes, it

is in violation of the zoning code -- but they are struggling. as a result, our identity as a nation of exceptional opportunity is in doubt. why is this happening to the greatest nation in human history? because we have too many leaders trapped in the past. people who still think it is the 20th century. people who think the ideas from yesterday will propel us into tomorrow. they never have and never will. america is a nation that is proud of its history but is about the future. our future has an opportunity to be better than our history. we must confront the challenges and then the opportunities of our time. we must do what that generation of americans did at the dawn of the industrial age. what that means in our public policy is straightforward.

we need to understand and accept that we are engaged in a global competition for investment, talent. our government policies are holding us back from winning the competition. we have a tax code that makes america's one of the most expensive places to innovate and invest. we have crushing relations and holding people back. obamacare dramatically transformed and discourages businesses from hiring more people. we have energy policies that are keeping us from fully utilizing energy resources that we have been blessed with as a nation. if we fix these things, a tax policy that says the more jobs you create, more businesses you open, the less you'll pay in taxes. if we limit the size and scope of regulations, repeal of obamacare with a plan that allows every american to buy the health insurance they want from any company anywhere in america

and if we fully utilize our energy resources, then i have full confidence that the american people will do what they have always done, create millions, not just the good jobs, but better paying jobs, 21st century jobs. that alone is not enough. the second reality of this new century is that the better paying jobs of today require more skills and more education than ever before. we have a higher education system that is doing a phenomenal job of preparing our people to compete in the 20th century. but not to compete in the 21st century. why don't we graduate people from high school ready to go to work trade to work as welders, plumbers, bmw technicians or for technicians come or any other technicians. why do we stigmatize these careers? these are good paying jobs. we can teach people to do this while they are 16 years old, 17 years old. we need to provide flexible --

flexibility in higher education so they can acquire the skills they need. the reception is making nine dollars an hour can become a paralegal making $60,000 a year. so the home health aide making $10 an hour can become a dental hygienist making $70,000 year. today, they can't. if you have to work full time and raise a family, you cannot drop everything and sit in a classroom for 2-4 years. we need cried flexible programs that allow people to learn online, on weekends, and throughout the year. third we have to stop graduating people from college with degrees that do not lead to jobs. [applause] we can't afford to do this anymore. there are young people in america barring thousands of dollars in student loans for degrees that do not lead to

jobs. i have a pretty straightforward idea. it is bipartisan. before you take out a student loan, your school has to tell you how much you can expect to make when you graduate from that school without a degree, so you can decide -- [applause] -- so you can decide whether that basket weaving degree you are seeking -- [laughter] -- greek philosophy is good. [laughter] so that people stop borrowing money for degrees that do not lead to jobs. in the third thing we have to do is accept that we truly live in a global age. we have 5% of the worlds population here in america. we neither to be millions of people on this pleasant -- planet who can afford to buy what we make in the services we

offer. you cannot have global prosperity without american leadership, because you can have stability without american leadership. the united nations can't do it. china won't do it. russia can't do it. there's only one nation capable of routing the freedom loving people of this planet to confront evil. the lessons of history are that the evil is confronted and defeated or it grows and spreads. look around the world today. it is in chaos. every region of this planet. from asia, where china is building islands to stake out it's in legitimate claims in the south china sea, to latin america, where these spread of anti-americanism and erosion of democracy, in europe, where vladimir putin is trying to rewrite the cold war, to the middle east, where after 3800 years of instability it is more unstable than ever but the threat of radical jihadist

groups. and iran is moving for them ahead with its regional hegemonic intentions. america cannot do it on its own and we haven't and president who has eviscerated our military give abilities and withdrawn from the world because he believes we are the cause of the problems, not the solution to these problems. [applause] these are our challenges and opportunities. if we can have a vibrant economy can, if we can equip our people with the skills they need, and if we can reengage america and its global leadership, then i tell you with full confidence that the 21st century will also be an american century. i believe that with all my heart, and so should you have a things will not happen on their own. it reminds us that the election of 2016 will not be a choice about laws we're going to pass or whether it will be a republican or democrat.

2016 is a referendum on our identity. what kind of country do we want to be. that is the fundamental question before us. do we want to remain special? or are we prepared to become like everybody else? as i speak to you tonight, i wife and children are in orlando, florida at a volleyball tournament. and i wish i was there. i'm happy to be here with you. [laughter] i make that point to you because when you make the decision to run for president, you realize you will be away from home. there are days that you will not be there. there are volleyball tournaments that you will mess. what allowed me to finally make the decision to run is that i understood that this election was as much about them as anyone else. for their generation, my

children's generation, it is the most important generation in american history. they will either be the freest and most prosperous americans who ever lived, or the first to inherit a diminished country from their parents. it reminds me of what my parents did for me. it should remind you of all your parents and your grandparents and what they did for you. the americans are before us, they did what had to be done in their time. they faced the challenges, embrace the opportunities of their new era, and each and every one of us inherited the single greatest nation in history. they did so as a nation, and they did so as a people. my father worked into his 70's. he stood behind a bar just like the one in the back of this room. when he was tired, when he didn't want to work, he stood behind the bar, because the purpose of my parents liked became to give us all the chances they never had. to open all the doors for us

that were not open for them, all the dreams they once had for themselves would come true for me. and for my siblings. that's not just my story that is our story. this is who we are. this is who we must still be. if you want to know whether america will remain special and not, it won't be based on the size of our economy or the power of our military it will be based on whether or not the people who are trying to do this now can still do it. the people who tonight and tomorrow morning will clean your room's in this hotel, and the ones who served as the food today. the people who as we speak are using the free wi-fi at a starbucks to operate their new business that they have big dreams about. the young student who will take two buses in the morning to attend a better school across town. the single mother who has made it the purpose of her life to ensure that her children have the opportunity she never did. if their dreams come true, then the 21st century will be the greatest era in the nation's

history. if they do not come true, then we will always be known as the generation that allowed america to diminish in decline. this is what this election is about. this is what we fight for. this is the reason why we are engaged in public service, and this is the reason why we are engaged in politics. this is not a sport. this is about the future of america and it's very identity. [applause] i believe this 21st century will also be an american century, and so should you. at the end of the day, there is not a nation on this or that i would trade places with. there is no other country that i look at today and say to myself that i would rather be them than us. the 21st century can be an american century of we wanted to be. now it is up to you and i to go out and sees it, to be the party of the future, to show those who

are trying to improve their lives that we are the party with the ideas and the plan to get us there, and if we do these things , then we will build to leave for our children what americans always leave for their children, the single greatest nation in the history of all mankind. thank you for having me. i look for to answering your questions. [applause] thank you. thank you. [applause] thank you. daniel: you know the routine. raise your hands. >> thank you.

thank you, senator. i've asked this before. i want to know the you get along with on the democratic side. [laughter] if you are going to be president of the united states, you have to work with everyone. pleas tell me. sen. rubio: i think i get along with everyone, even people who call me a loser. [laughter] some of you got it. you will reach the papers. that's a great question. many of the ideas that i have cited have found bipartisanship. i forgot. delaware, someone i worked with on the many ideas i talked about the -- about. there is a fundamental difference between how parties. the democratic party is logic under the control of radical

left wing view of governments role in our lives and country. i think you see evidence of that in the fiscal possible -- policy. and also that the america is cause of harm in the world, and that is reflected in our foreign policy. we are creating problems for ourselves because we are engaged. as opposed to the reality that in the absence of american leadership, we have a vacuum that leads to chaos. we will have to work with people who we disagree with. i hope we can move forward. at the end of the day, it will decline for all of us, to -- democrats and republicans alike. we are in this together is that our nation's destiny is inextricably linked. that is why we have elections. >> question in the back. >> great to see you again. i have been asking candidates today about common core.

common core is a big issue important to me. i want to know your stance on common core. if you're president, what would you do. sen. rubio: common core is a set of standards at the national level, but it will be used by the department of education. they will eventually be used to force on states the federal government's policy. that is not the right of porch -- right approach. i want them at our state school boards in state legislature. [applause] >> i am a local businessman here in new hampshire and virginia. sen. rubio: where do you vote? [laughter] >> new hampshire. my concern is how much the national labor relations or does

out of control with their regulations? the last one which came into effect yesterday, the one on the unions, the time limits, the ambush law -- ambush election law. also the one with the mcdonald's joint employers with the franchisees. i am concerned that what they're doing is going to change the face of business in this country, and i want to know that as president how would you get that group under control and do with these new regulations question mark -- regulations? sen. rubio: all those agencies are under the domain of the executive branch. let there be no doubt, president obama supports those policies. they can have a big role in how these agencies work. it reminds us how power in federal government is held by

bureaucrats. one of the reasons is because the vasco regulations. the members of congress often time think we are the lawmakers but most of the laws are nothing but authorizations to write more rules. there are multiple different ways to bring regulations under control. the one i propose is called a regulatory budget. no matter what you do, we would set a limit, congress would, a limit on how much regulations can cause the american economy. agencies would have to get under that number every year by reducing regulations. it will force them to undertake a cost-benefit analysis, and that is something that is not happening now. the gun have to get rid of the old regulations of they want new regulations in place. most of all, what it would do is massively regulate the regulatory space, bring them under the impediments that it now places on the growth of our

economy. beyond that, i would argue that what you pointed to is not just an annoyance, it makes us uncompetitive. companies and investors to try to create jobs look at these things as the conditions of doing business in the nation. it is not attractive for our country in an era of global competition where you have a national labor relations board that is imposing upon small businesses, which is not own by mcdonald's, its own by an individual, requirements the have to meet which makes him uncompetitive in respect of the rest of the world. it's one more example of how the regulatory state is making america uncompetitive in an era of global competition. [applause] >> hello, senator. from the college republicans. you spoke a lot about the future in your speech, and i think if you could speak a little bit

about entitlement reform or how you plan to keep america prosperous in terms of the budget? sen. rubio: even during my senate campaign, i have campaigned on entitlement reform. i'm in a state with there's a lot of people on social security and medicare, including my mother. i would never do anything that would be bad for her. i recognize to fundamental truths. unless you regulate entitlement programs, they will go bankrupt and bankrupt our country could the single leading cause of our long-term debt is the fact that we have entitlement programs in america that are structured in way that are not sustainable in the long term. the only solution if we want to reform these programs that does not impact anyone like my mother, people currently in the program were about to retire, it will require my generation in your generation to accept that our social security and our medicare is still going to be the best in the world, but it's going to look different than our parents'social security and medicare.

we propose a specific ideas. we did so when i ran for senate in the florida. when i talked about the fact that we need to allow the retirement age to continue to go up many pundits predicted that it is the end of my campaign and it wasn't true. people know this isn't true. it's unmistakable, when social security was founded, we had about 15 workers for every retiree, today we have three for every retiree, and soon it will be too. the program is unsustainable. here is the bottom line, we reform it or they will go bankrupt and they were banker for country. we want to say those programs, but to save them -- here's the bottom line, anyone who says they want to leave those programs executive way they are are in favor of a gripping those programs. that is what we do need to confront or the sooner we confront it, the less disruptive the changes will be. >> hello.

when my grandparents moved here from québec, they could only speak french. when they went to school, they had no choice but to learning less. they did not have any special teachers. they went to the classroom and learned the regular subjects and were forced to learn english. when my daughter applied for a teaching job in florida two years ago she was told that she wasn't qualified because she did not have a certificate in english as a second language. she said is in english the language in this country. i think the real problem is because we are trying to -- we spend extra money in making sure that every child is comfortable in their native language before they're taught english. i want to know if there's something that can be done about it? i don't think people are coming here and learning english. you walk into a lowe's store and

the signs are in english and spanish. almost any phone call, hit one for english, hit two for spanish. it seems like this country needs to do something about this. we are ending the speaking country, yet the people here are not forced to learn english. sen. rubio: if you don't spring english, you will not prosper economically in america. it is the language spoken in the country, while it's not legally -- there's no law that it is the official language. it is the official language of the united states and should be. it is the unifying language of our people. anyone who doesn't teaching or learning much, is going to have limited horizons economically in her country. i don't understand the circumstances that your daughter face, but the truth of the matter is that anybody who comes to this country and is not learning less -- learn english, the morse -- more disadvantage they will be.

>> [inaudible] [applause] sen. rubio: i think that there are english speakers -- children who come to the united states and only speak creole because they are from haiti. you have to learn english to graduate. that is because they are learning english, a separate class from the mainstream student, until the proficient enough to take the full coarsening list, but they are streamlined into the system, where you have to speaking was to graduate high school. you cannot graduate if you don't speaking with good you can't pass the exams. many of the english second language classes, but within three years they are supposed to be mainstream. i'm not familiar with the exact

district she applied for. that's what is supposed to happen. yes, sir? >> senator rubio, i think you have been clear about this, and i totally affirm your position that the number one position of the chief executive and the government is national security. estimates are that iran will have the bomb within months, no matter what happens. we obviously have -- you know what i'm talking about -- the silliness in washington as far as what the president is doing. this is going to destabilize the entire international scene, and i think most americans have no clue that this is coming as quickly as it is coming and what kind of impact it will have. i would love to hear your views on if you were in the white house, how you deal with this. we have a president who -- i

think you have a different perspective on that. sen. rubio: let me just describe the nature of the problem more in depth, and then i will to you what we need to do about it at this point even though we have lost a lot of leverage because one of the president has done. i run is that -- i ran is not limited only to nuclear weapons. iran is the premier sponsor of terrorism. they have multiple groups of they sponsor to carry out terrorist attacks. they use terrorism the weight normal nations use diplomacy. that is what they do. that is not being discussed. second a nuclear capability is not just limited to a bomb, you have to have a delivery system. iran is developing long-range rockets that will be capable of reaching the east coast of the united states. those are not part of the talks. the weapon design they can buy.

if they have not bought it already. the third thing it takes is the ability to enrich uranium or reprocess plutonium, even under the most generous reading of the dill that the president is trying to sell us, they retain the infrastructure to enrich. we are trusting that if they want us to inspect them, they will let this. we saw this movie before. it was called iraq. you went back 90 days later and they did the same thing again. we seen this movie before. it's called north korea. there is no doubt they want to acquire nuclear weapons. they are willing to put on a charade in the store -- short-term because they want the sanctions lifted. in the long-term they wanted because it furthers their ambition to be a regional hegemonic power. they want to be the single most powerful country in that area of the world are they want to drive america out of that region and want the whole region under their domain.

there's iranian influence in lebanon, syria iraq, yemen bahrain. this is the truth. this weapon is just the most dangerous part of it. our president should never have entered into these negotiations. [applause] the international sanctions with u.s. unilateral sanctions are having a devastating impact, and the choice is clear. you can have bigger ambitions or an economy, but you can't have both. the strain was threatening the regime stability, and that's why the decided to come to the table, but they knew that when they sit down that this president wanted to deal worse than they did. john kerry wanted this deal worse than they did. now we've been able to disrupt the entire international sanctions regime. china and russia are all in.

the chinese are saying they will build reactors. now all we have is the opportunity to impose unilateral sanctions. here's the last hard truth. we may have to decide what is worse, a military strike against iran or new care armed iran. i don't want to to be war, but a nuclear iran is an unacceptable risks for the region and the world. [applause] the last question of the evening. >> thank you for coming this evening. it was wonderful to hear what you had to say. i wanted your viewpoint speaking about our security. there are terrorists coming across our borders every day, as well as lots of other people who

want to work in america, but there's a lot of terrorism to. what is your viewpoint about closing our borders? sen. rubio: first we have to define our borders. our borders are also our airports and seaports. 40% of illegal immigrants entered the country legally and overstayed their visas. it is a matter of national security. one of the most important things we need to do is improve the way we enforce immigration laws. that involves border security, particularly our southern border. that also includes a verify system to verify employees and an entry eggs and system to make sure we know who the people are who overstayed our visas. like the hotel for check you win but never checked you out. [laughter] we have