f the world was industrializing. america was still trying to find its bearings. a generation of america leadership decided in that transition they would embrace, they were going to embrace the industrial revolution. it was disrupted. it moved millions of people form rural areas and replacing jobs with the new ones. and emerged the greatest nation in world history. by the turn of the 20th century, america was the largest industrial nation in the world. the most robust economy man had ever known. i want you to think about had they never made a decision, what if that generation had not embraced the opportunities of that time and confronted the challenges? what would the 20th century have looked like?

how would world war ii had ended? not well. the cold war? not well. what would my life had been like? that would not have been a place like america for my parents to go to. i told the story many times because to me it reminds me every single day of how unique this nation is. throughout all of history, almost everyone who has lived has lived in a society that told you, you can only go as far as your parents went before you. whatever they did, that is what is left. here, that has not been the case. my parents understood. my father lost his mother when he was nine-year-old, and he worked for the next 70 years of his life. my mother was one of seven girls raised in cuba in a poor family,

with the disabled father. they had dreams when they were young, but they could not do them, they found themselves in a society that told them that they could not do those things. imagine what that must have felt like. a society that tells you no matter how much you try, there are things you cannot do because of who you are and where you come from. in 1956, they came here. my parents never made it big. they were never rich, famous, but they were successful. just a few decades removed from poverty, they owned a home, had jobs retired. that is our story. it defines us as a nation and people. it's what makes us exceptional and different.

it is our identity. today it is in doubt. there are millions of americans who are started to believe we are no longer that country. you either know them or you are them. you are living paycheck to paycheck. now the jobs do not go far enough. they literally live one unexpected expense away from disaster. the young people who did everything we asked, and other cannot find a job. the person trying to start a business out of their home, it is in violation of zoning codes but it is a good business. [laughter] they are struggling because of government regulations. as a result, our identity as a nation is in doubt. why is this happening? the answer is, because we have

leaders trapped in the past. people who think it is the 20th century. people who think yesterday's ideas will propel us to tomorrow. they never will. america is a nation out of its history but it has always been about his future. our future has the opportunity to be better than our history. we must confront challenges and embrace opportunities of our time. we must do with that generation of americans did during the industrial age. it is straightforward. we need to understand and accept that we are engaged in a global competition for investment, innovation, and talent. government policies hold us back. we have a tax cut that makes america one of the most expensive places to invest and innovate. we have regulations that are crushing innovation and holding people back. we have obamacare, which

actually discourages is is is hiring more people. we have energy policies keeping us from fully utilizing energy resources. we can fix these things with a progrowth tax policy. if we limit the size of regulation, if we replace obamacare with the plan that allows every american to buy the health insurance they want, if we utilize energy resources that the american people will do it they have always done. they will create millions of better paying jobs, 21st century jobs. that is not enough. the second reality of this century is that the better paying jobs of today require more skill and education that

before. we have a higher education system doing a phenomenal job of preparing people to compete in the 20th century another 21st. why do we graduate people from high school ready week -- why do we not graduate people from high school to go to work? why have we stigmatized industrial careers? these are good paying jobs. we can teach people to do this while they are young. we need flexibility in higher education, some people who can work full-time can also acquire the skills they need to improve their life, so that a receptionist can become a paralegal. so that a health aide can become a dental hygienist. today, people cannot.

if you have to work full-time to raise a family, you can't have everything to set in a classroom. we need to provide flexible programs that allow people to learn at their own pace. we have to stop graduate he people from college with degrees the do not lead to jobs. [applause] we cannot afford to do this anymore. people are borrowing thousands of dollars in loans for degrees that do not lead to jobs. i propose a straightforward idea. before you take out a loan, or school has to tell you how much you can expect to make when you graduate from that school with that degree. sivan decide -- so you can decide whether that basket weaving degree you are seeking

-- by oases to cite greek philosophers just to get people offended -- greek philosophy is good, by the way -- so that people stop borrowing money for degrees that do not lead to jobs. we have to accept that we live in a global age. we have 4%-5% of the global population. we needed to be millions of people on the planet that can afford to buy what we sell and bake. you cannot have global prosperity without american leadership, because you cannot have stability with how to american leadership. the united nations cannot do it god for bid china cannot do it russia cannot do it. there is only one nation in the world capable of allowing the freedom loving people in the

world to confront evil. look around the world today, it is chaos in every region of the planet. from asia -- china is literally building islands to stake out illegitimate claims in the south china sea, and in latin america and in europe were vladimir putin is trying to rewrite the cold war, to the middle east with the spread of radical jihadist groups and iran moving ahead in hegemonic intentions. america cannot solve problems on its own. none of these poems can be solved without america. we have a president that has eviscerated military capability. [applause]

these are challenges, and opportunities. if we can have a vibrant economy, if we can equip people with the skills they need, if we can reengage america and its leadership the 21st century will be in american century. i believe that all of my heart. these things will not happen on their own. it reminds us that the election will not be a choice about what laws are going to pass, whether it is going to be republican or democrat. 2016 as a referendum on our identity. what kind of country do we want to be? to be want to remain special aura be prepared to become like everybody else deck ? tonight, my wife and children

are in orlando. i wish i was there. although i am happy to be here with you. [laughter] i make that point because when you make the decision to run for president, you realize you will be away from home. there are days he will not be there. there are tournaments he will miss. what a lobby to make the decision to run is that this election is about them as much as anybody else. my children's generation is the most important generation in history. they will either be the freest or rob -- most prosperous americans, or the first to inherit a diminished country. it reminds me of all my parents did for me, and it should remind you that all your parents did for you. the americans the 4s did what

had to be done. they faced the challenges, they embraced opportunities and we inherited the greatest nation in all of human history. they did so as a nation and the people. my father worked events like this for a decade. he stood behind a heart -- behind the bar. on nights he did not want to work, he said behind that bar. because the purpose of their life became to give us the chances they never had. to open doors for us that were not open to them, all the dreams they once had would come true for me. that's not just my story, it 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, it will not be based on the size of our economy.

it will be based on whether or not the people doing this now can still do it. the people who will clean your rooms tomorrow morning and this hotel. the people who are using free wi-fi at a starbucks to operate their new business. the student that will take two buses in the morning to attend a better school. the single mother who has made the purpose of her life to ensure that her children have the opportunities she never did. if their dreams come true, the 21st century will be the greatest era in our nations history. if they do not, we will always be known as the generation that allowed america to diminish and decline. this is what the selection -- this is what the election is about. this is why we are engaged in public service. this is not a sport.

this is about the future of america and its identity. [applause] i believe the century will also be an american century. there is a donation on this earth i would trade places with. there is no cut other -- there is no other country i would rather be. the 21st century can be an american century if we wanted to be. it is up to us to be the party of the future, to show those who are trying to improve lives that we are the party with a plan to get us there. if we do these things, we will be able to leave for our children what americans always leave for their children, the single greatest nation in the history of all mankind. thank you. [applause]

thank you. thank you. thank you. >> we will take some questions you know the routine. we will bring the microphone over. >> thank you, senator. i have asked this before. i want to know who you get along with on the democratic side. only because, if you are going to be president, you have to work with everyone. please tell me. senator rubio: i think i get along with everyone, even those who call me a loser.

[laughter] some of you got it, calgary the papers. -- go read the papers. chris coons is someone from connecticut i have worked with. delaware. i forget. someone i have worked with on many ideas i have talked about. there are people we can work with some ideas. there's a fundamental difference between our parties. the democratic party is under the control of a radical left-wing view. i think you see evidence of that in policy. and also the control of a left-wing view -- ec reflected in foreign policy. the idea that we are creating problems for ourselves, as opposed to the reality that in

the absence of american leadership, at least two of vacuum, which leads to chaos. we will have to work with people who we disagree with on certain issues. i hope we can move forward because at the end of the day america will decline for all of us, republicans and democrats alike. we are all in this together. we are inextricably linked in that regard. there are fundamental differences between our parties. >> senator, great to see you. i've been asking candidates about common core. common core is an issue important to me. i want to know your status on common core, what would you do? senator rubio: it's going to be used by the department of education, though standers to force themselves on state policy. you will not get federal money.

i do not think that is the right approach. i believe in curriculum reform. [applause] >> i am a local businessman in new hampshire. my concern -- my concern is how much is the regulation on businesses. the last regulation and came into effect yesterday, the ambush law, you know? the ambush election law. and also the thing with trying

to make joint employers with franchisees. i'm concerned that what they are doing what changed the face of business in this country. as president, how would you get the group under control? what we do do with new regulations? senator rubio: at the end of the day, all agencies are under the domain of the executive branch. president obama supports those policies, and that's why they are happening. residential leadership can have a big role in how these play. an increasing amount of power and the federal government is held in the hands of unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats. a lot of this is because the vast growth of regulation. members of congress often think that we are lawmakers but most laws being passed in washington are nothing but authorizations for regulators to write rules. there are different ways to bring regulations under control. the one i propose is called the

regulatory budget. it says that no matter what you do, we will set a limit on how much regulations can cost the economy. agencies would have to get under that number every year by reducing regulation. it will force them to undercut -- undertake a cost of that analysis, and that is something that is not happening right now. they'll have to get rid of an old regulation if they want to put a new one in place. most of all, it would massively regulate the regulatory state. it would bring it will under the regulatory impediment on the growth of our economy. beyond that, i would argue that it is not simply an annoyance countries -- companies and investors and people that trying to create jobs look at these things at the conditions us doing business in the nation. his -- it is not attractive to have a place where you have a national labor it is opposing

upon a particularly small business like a franchise owner, which is not a mcdonald's, it is on by an individual that happens to on that store, requirements that they have to make that make them uncompetitive in respect to the rest of the world. so it's just one more example of at the regulatory state is making america uncompetitive in an era of global competition. [applause] >> hi senator. he spoke a lot about the future in your speech. entitlements are going to be a huge part of that. i was wondering if you could speak to entitlement reform or how you plan to keep america prosperous in terms of budget. senator rubio: during my senate campaign, i have campaigned on the issue of entitlement reform. there are a lot of people on social security. this includes my mother. i would never do anything to harm my mother. i recognize to troops.

-- two truths. the single leading cause of debt is the fact that we have entitlement programs that are structured that are not sustainable. the only solution -- if you want to reform programs that doesn't impact people like my mother, it will require my generation and her generation to accept that our social security and medicare is still going to be the best thing in the world, but it is going to look different. we propose specific ideas of how to make that come about. i did so when i ran for senate in florida. when i did, i talked about retirement age. many pundits predicted it was the end of my campaign. it wasn't true. the math is unmistakable.

when social security was founded, we had 15 workers for every retiree. today, we have three for every retiree, isn't it will be -- and soon it will be two for every retiree. it is unsustainable. anybody who says they want to leave programs the way are is in favor of bankrupting those programs. we need to confront that issue. the sooner we confronted, the less disruptive changes will be. >> when my grandparents moved here from quebec, they could only speak french. when my father and his siblings went to school, they had no choice to learn english. he didn't have any special teachers that went to classrooms and as they learned, they were forced to learn english. when my daughter applied for a teaching job in florida, she was

told she was not qualified because she did not have a certificate in english as a second language. she said, mom, is a english the leg which in this country? -- isn't english the language in this country? we spend extra money making sure that every child is comfortable in their native language before they are taught english. i want to know if something can be done about it. i do not think people are coming here and learning english. you walk into a lowe's store and assigns are in english -- and the signs are in english and spanish. it seems like this country needs to do something about this. we are in english-speaking country, but the people here are not forced to learn english

senator rubio:. senator rubio:if you don't speaking bush, you are not going to prosper economically. it is a language spoken in this country. there is not a law that says it is the official language, but it is the official language and it should be. it is that unifying which of our people. anyone who doesn't learn english is going to have a limited horizon, economically. i don't know the circumstances your daughter faced, but the truth is, anyone who comes to this country who immigrants year and doesn't learn english the more disadvantage they will be in the less they will contribute economically. >> [indiscernible] senator rubio: i don't know what it means in other parts of the country. children who come to the united states and only speak creole

have to learn english to graduate. because they are learning english they have to be patient -- proficient enough to take a test. they are streamlined to speak english to graduate high school. you cannot graduate if you don't speak english. you cannot pass the exam. many of those esol classes are designed for students who first language is in the language. that is how the system -- i'm not sure with the district she applied to. >> 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's national security. estimates are that iran will

have the bomb within months no matter what happens. we obviously, you know what i am talking about, the silliness in washington as far as what the president is doing. this will destabilize the entire international scene. i think most americans have no clue that this is coming as quickly as it is coming and what kind of impact it is going to have. i would love to hear your views on if you were in the white house, how do you deal with this? we have a president who is basically, what we do? i think you probably have a different perspective. senator rubio: let me just describe the nature of the problem. even though we have lost a lot of leverage because of what the president has already done. iran is not just limited to nuclear weapons. this is not even being discussed in negotiations.

iran is the premier sponsor of terrorism. they have multiple groups around the world that the sponsor to carry out terrorist attacks as a form of state -- they use terrorism the way normal nations use diplomacy. that is literally what they do, that is not being discussed. second a nuclear capability is not is limited to a bomb, you have to have a delivery system. a are delivering long-range rockets that will be capable of reaching the eastern coast of the united states. those are not part of the talks. weapons design they can buy it if they haven't bought it already. the ability to enrich uranium or reprocess plutonium. even under the most generous deal the president is trying to sell, they retain the infrastructure to enrich and reprocess. when we trust them is that if we want to inspect them, they will let us. we have seen this movie before. it is called "the rock."

we say, let's go in, and no we can't. they try to let you in, they have been at the site. you go back, you do the same game. we have seen this game before, it is called -- we have seen this movie before, it is called north korea. it ron is willing to put on a charade because they want inspections, because they want more access to the money. in the long term people want a weapon because it furthers their ultimate ambition, and that is to be a regional hegemonic power. they want to the single most powerful country in that area of the world, they want to drive america out of the region, they want the whole region to be under their domain, and they are already acting on that ambition. today, you can find your radiant in lebanon and syria and increasingly in a rock. you find it in yemen now. you find in bahrain. it is the most dangerous part of it. we should never have entered into these negotiations. these international sanctions and abominations -- [applause]

the international sanctions and combination with u.s. electoral sanctions have a devastating effect on iran, and the choice of them is clear you can have nuclear ambitions or you can have an economy but you cannot have both. it was having a real strain on them and threatening the regime's instability, and that is why they came to the table. they do that this president wanted the deal worse than they did. john kerry wanted this deal worse than they did. what we have been ill to do is basically disrupt the entire international sanctions regime. china and russia -- the russians have already sold antiaircraft weapons. the chinese art going to build reactors. -- the chinese are going to build reactors. bring those international sanctions is going to be difficult. here's the last truth. we may have to decide at some point what is worse, what is worse? a military strike against iran, or nuclear armed iran? i will say this, i don't want

there to be military force, but nuclear bond is an unacceptable risk to the region and the world. -- nuclear iran is an unacceptable risk to the region and the world. [applause] >> last question of the evening. >> take you for coming this evening. i wanted your view, speaking about security. there are terrorists coming across our borders every day, as well as lots of other people who want opportunity and to work in america, but there is a lot of terrorism, too. what is your viewpoint about closing our borders? senator rubio: we had to define what a border is. it is not just mexico or canada, it is airports. people overstay visas. i believe not just in

immigration, but national security. we need to do this early in a term of the next president is improved the way we enforce immigration laws. it also includes an e-verify system that employers can use to verify the people they hire. we need to ensure we know these people. today, we are like a hotel that checks you in, but never checks you out. [applause] that is a big problem. we really have not confronted about terrorism. we used to be concerned, we still should be about someone from abroad carrying out a terrorist attack. we were concerned about somebody going abroad and being radicalized and coming back.

now we face the threat of someone who has never left the country and through online activities is inspired to carry out a terrorist attack. i am telling you, god for bid that happens here and the first thing people will want to know is why did we not know about it, and why did we not stop it? i have no reason to exaggerate, the risks this country faces are greater today than the day i took office. every time a traitor discloses secrets to the world, our enemies find ways to invade our intelligence. there are thousands of people around this world, even as i did, they are plotting to kill americans. this risk is real.

the spread of radical jihadist has spread everywhere. it only continues to grow under the watch of this president. we need to deal with this. you cannot have prosperity, when you're constantly under >> i can so your state party is in great hands with jennifer horn. german born? -- chariirman horn? we have 168 members on your rnc. the 168 people that get

together and do your party business nationally. those that are on it, please stand up. national committee man or woman from the state party, please stand. give them a round of applause. certainly want to give a shout out to our cochair, sharon day. she will be addressing the summit tomorrow. this is our stop hillary panel. it is a great panel here to talk about that. i want to introduce who we have on stage. sean spicer is with us. the chief strategist, which is saying he is a big deal. the chief strategist of the rfc during a presidential cycle. he will share his remarks with us. we have kim, your regional political director in this region.

she was the e.d.i in michigan which was one of our better run state parties in the country under her leadership. then jesse, the director chief data officer at the rnc. we have been talking about data for about four years. what obama's team did, what we are doing. jesse is the leader of that effort. then we have rob the director of media training. let's give these guys a round of applause. i know they have not done anything yet. but, it is great they were able to be here. sea,n, let's start with you. let's discuss the stop hillary movement. there has been a lot of press about the amount of current med -- earned media. it is a big deal and presidential cycle, what is it about?

sean: thanks. i think we -- they have one candidate. they are trying to talk about the fact that it will be a competitive primary in the words of debbie wasserman schultz. the best -- where it gets even funnier is last week when she said -- governor chafee is going to get in. i laughed very hard at that because a lot of former governors have gotne to jail. he was such a bad governor.

that being said, it is laughable. we know hillary clinton, barring some kind of huge catastrophic failure which is always possible, will be the nominee. in some cases, that could be a very positive thing where you don't face competition. the one thing about hillary that we know, if you look at the trajectory of herbal numbers -- of her poll numbers her favorability goes down. she left office as secretary with a 67% approval rating. last week, it was in the high 40's. the more she talks, the better we do. it is true. getting to the point, we knew what we had. we know her weaknesses. her number one weakness is that the american people don't find her honest and trustworthy. for a variety of reasons. too long for this panel to discuss.

but, from an rnc standpoint, we knew we had one candidate and we knew the weaknesses and we started to stop hillary campaign. if you go, this is the one part where you can be rude and do exactly what you were not supposed to do -- if you pick up your phone and go to stop hillary, there is a petition and it says you can sign up to join the army to stop hillary. for every single person that says i want to help stop hillary and when the white house -- win the white house, the first thing you need to do is sign the petition. i know it sounds kind of naive but the best thing we can do and jesse will address this, have the best data. we need to know who is with us and grow that list. we need to not only have you but your neighbor, your friends, coworkers. every time somebody says i cannot stand hillary clinton what can i do? have them go to stophillary.gop.

the bigger we can do that, the better. that is the one thing that every single person in this room can do to stop hillary. getting back to your question, mnatt, we rolled out a campaign with the idea to make sure that when she goes out on the campaign, people know the republican national committee number one, number two and number three objective is to stop hillary and put a republican back in the white house. with your help, we were extremely successful in 2014. we won 21 g ovovernors. we have the second largest majority in the house of representatives and this party is on the march forward. it would not be good enough if we don't win the white house. we have a lot to be proud of. we are reaching out and go into communities we have never gone to before. under the chairman and cochairman's leadership, we are opening offices to places we

have never done it before. at the end of the day, the only difference between winning and losing is you. you and your friends. if you join the campaign to stop hillary, we can win. double wrap up by saying -- i will wrap up by saying we did a bunch of things. we have not spent any money on advertising. that is up to the super pacs for the most part. we invest in people and data. we rolled out the stop hillary campaign. my team brought these thumb drives. we delivered them to every news organization covering hillary. we rolled out and went around and put out a video. we generated over $10 million in earned media the day she rolled out. for the cost of a bunch of thumb drives we put videos on, the hillary e-mail files.

we sent it out to reporters and said hillary might be able to delete her e-mails but we want to make sure you can back up yours. it was played on fox news, "meet the press/." for no dollars, we generated over $10 million in earned media. last night, we set the team to national park. we handed out over 2000 cozies. in 45 minutes, it went viral on the internet. those are the kinds of things -- it is not about spending money and buying ads. it is about sharing information with our friends making sure people get the record straight. if you look back to why we won in 2014, it was not because we spent more money on tv. we had better information, better data, better people and more committed folks. that is the way we will win this time. if anybody thinks different,

they are wrong because it is not about how many ads you place on television. if we go out and talk about the record and expose hillary clinton's record and promote the positive vision that are candidates have, we will win. i'm glad to take any other questions but i will let the train keep rolling. matt: we will have time for questions. kim, there is this excitement about all the candidates. what is the one thing right now that activists, those in the room -- you all are going to make a difference. what is the one thing then he to prepare for the general election? kim: there are two things i can think of. one of them is talking to your neighbors and your friends. the rnd is rolling upgrade information every day. if you have not signed up, they will arm you with the information you need. in new hampshire come a lot of

you are focused on the primary process. you are talking to volunteers, recruiting people. you need to continu the conversation about how important it is to stop hillary and take the information we are providing and educating your neighbors and friends. the other thing we can do right now to prepare for the general election is voter registration. in new hampshire, we have a slight advantage. there are a few more republicans than democrats. the vast majority are unaffiliated voters. even though we have a small advantage, we have not been successful in the general election. will be need to do is grow our gop base. one of the easiest ways to do that is the rnc tracks voters across the country through the national change of address file. we provide that list with each state party of voters who have been registered republicans in other states. those folks are here in your state now.

there's about 5000 of them today. we can start talking to them and encouraging to register for next year's election. dave: jesse, being the chief data officer. we have had to hear after the 2012 election, all about how a robust data operation they have. all these dayta scientists working on the data. what are your thoughts on that? it is something that is still out there. your thoughts on this robust data operation they have. jesse: i am not a good public speaker. behind data sets is where i should be. it was pretty phenomenal that they had. i don't know why it is relevant anymore. it was designed for one candidate and one candidate only in a few states. we have this term in data that

it could get stale pretty quickly. we have a changing environment. let's say you fly in airline and that airline makes you upset and you never fly that airline again. you will change to a different airline. this is a data point that needs to be captured. all sorts of issues. education, energy. what we need to do is we have been capturing that data for the last 20 years. we are continuing to do it. all of this data is becoming stale. and has not been changing or dynamic whatsoever. it gets to the really good advantage. one reason why i think -- i don't have customers what might be three days -- now following up -- dave: that data can be rebuilt. i know it was for obama. following up on that, could it be rebuilt? jesese: in some ways, yes.

most ways, no. you cannot get it. since they have been able to table the data set, they are just losing time as we go throughout time. essentially, you can even buy a lot of the data. they will be way behind us for a long time just because they did not take the actual steps to keep the upkeep of data. dave: i know there have been a lot of stories. there is a lot of positive stories about the enrnc catching up after 2014. we have caught up in some ways surpassed the data realm. all this money we have been able to raise, the biggest portion has been going to the rebuild on the data side. where are we now? we have surpassed where they are? jesse: one that we have -- back

in 2008 when hillary was first running president -- for president, her and the president at the time. i doubt they were doing for it is in candidates. the people in a state like new hampshire are supporting hillary at the time. we want to identify why they were doing that and see of we can change their minds. why would they be doing that? dave: thank you. rob, director of training and education. rob goes all across the country. i do a lot of training for state chairmen. rob is one of the guys i used to do a lot of the training. on that front, we touch on a lot of different social media.

tell me again. that is a big part of these campaigns and a big movement. what are some of the rules that have changed on the social media side? some of the most effective strategies that we can be doing right now on the social media front? rob: can everybody hear me ok? for people on their phones, how many people use twitter or facebook on their phone? how many use it on a desktop or laptop? i'm 27 and i sound like i'm a dinosaur. instagram, not so much. it is a hot topic and something we talk about. one of the things that changed about 2016 is the impact of every one of you can have socially.

social media is among your friends, you are now part of the media. we have print reporters, online reporters. reporters of all different outlets. they have audiences they write to. you have your own accounts. your friends and family are probably more likely to agree more passionately or disagree with what you share. your ability to share on your channels information that will help our candidates will help us influence votes, and hearts and minds and help recruit volunteers and raise money. it is something we will have never experienced at this level before. right now, the people who build strong social media accounts are not just a part of the conversation, but they can control it. sean talked about the stop hillary campaign. it was not just that we have videos, petition. it is the people taking the time to share them. if you take that to what president obama did in 2008,

they built as online army of people that were excited. they were talking about him. they were not all talking about the same issues, but they got their friends talking. the more we have our friends talk online, the better we are going to do because right now digital and mobile are becoming people's first screens. it is the technical term of the medium they are spending the most time in front of. i have some stats. the people on average are checking their phones 100 times a day. i can see many people doing it right now. facebook they go on their tender 15 times a day. that number could be greater. the team is here. assume people might miss the nightly news or might not read what you read online and share it. if it is a good article, share it. you don't have to share it. we have a phrase in the digital that sharing is caring. i encourage you to check out our

content that we continue to put out an alternative back over to matt. matt: a lot of what we are talking about, a lot of it was birthed out of the report that was put out after the 2012 election. how many read that report? it is important for you all. out of that is really how we are funding state parties, the rnc and why we are raising those dollars. it was something that we really put into work this past cycle implementing this plan early and often. the type of staff we are hiring in state to then give us the feedback. out of that, i want you to note -- i know people get up here all the time from different organizations and tell you all you are the backbone of the elephant. i hear that all the time. thank you for doing what you do. putting up the yard signs making phone calls and giving money. we really mean that. every week, multiple phone calls, conference calls where we

are talking about the metrics from the state parties. where are we on shares. where are we on staffing in this district or state party. it is absolutely a bottom-up party. it is the only way we get things done. the only reason we were able to identify the voters we did last election cycle as well was through the efforts of you all on the ground. we mean it. that is why we are investing the dollars. i want you to know that. i know people say it all the time but we really mean it. i'm probably on about 15 to 20 conference calls where we are talking about it every week. it is something that we will continue to do and committed to do this cycle. with that, let's open it up for a few questions. i see some hands going up. right here. >> thank you. on the data side, if you look at voter fraud data.

>> one of the big things we do is it is really hard thing to track. every state has very different election laws. as they like wisconsin, or even new hampshire, are seeing demonstrations. it is hard to prove that at the time in which they are registering. we do post facto it was voting in certain locations but you have to do a lot of research. you have to take that into account. not as big as you think it would be -- usually it is about 1% and sometimes on accident. we do take that into account. matt: right here, ma'am. i'll just point. >> this is for the data also. do you know what happened with the campaign in 2012 where we, a lot of us were trained to work at the polling booth and then we

were supposed to get numbers and call them back. there was supposed to be this really big deal. it was going to really help them to identify who to call because they had not voted yet and it was the big failure. matjesse: i know the program you are talking about. that was embedded in the romney campaign. we were not part of the program. did we advise prior to technology decisions and things like that? of course, but on the actual whatever program or whatever did not work, i cannot speak to that because i am not a romney representedative. matt: to that point, 2014, 8 or nine areas targeted. we went head to head with the democrats. their people versus our people and we want.

correct or not correct? jesse: it is completely correct. if you take some of our data like from north carolina, we had ourselves winning north carolina the whole time. there is no public poll out there that have the same data. we were very close in virginia. we beat public polling like 95% of the time given the resources we had. given the robust operations have gotten bigger and more accurate, we just hired more data scientists. we can beat them at a much bigger degree in 2016. excited about this. matt: i'm scanning. right here. i'll work you. you are closer here. we have another one. no. you're on. >> some wonderful arguments

today from the speakers, all of which appeared to be republicans. i have yet see that with democrats. i would like to ask the panel a couple of questions. what was inflation at the supermarket checkout counter in 2014? the inflation rate. how much did food go up and cost? >> 6%. >> it was 4.6% in 2014. what is this year's deficit? >> this year's deficit? $1.1 trillion. >> it is more near 3.5 in 2014, the average hourly worker? >> the average --

>> it is less money in 2013 than it was in 1972 and 1973. we are not bringing obama's policies down. i have yet to hear any candidate do that. if you cannot explain to people that the price of food is not going up regardless of the dollar is going down, if you cannot explain to the average hourly worker that although his salary is going down, he loses ground every day. if they cannot have every dollar going into debt, it will destroy the nation. they are not going to win. [applause] >> our communication efforts -- two swing voters. matt: we will hear about swing

voters for the next two years. what ourour points. what is the plan to swing voters? i know it is a political perspective. that communication is there. >> i think you are right -- rob: there are a lot of different reasons or ways in which we can reach out to folks better. i think as republicans, too often we try to win arguments and this has been a constant refrain for the last several cycles. we go through and talk about balancing a budget, why it is 27% and not acceptable. whatever that number is, we get wrapped up in numbers. nobody wants to balance the budget because we are so committed to math. at the end of the day, balancing the budget is really simple. if you are a democrat, you can be for a balanced budget as well. they do it differently.

we all agree that you want a better vision for the country better life for families. you want to help the next generation. you want the most prosperous country in the world. we want other companies from around the world relocating here. you wanted because it is good for people, for the families. i think how we communicate to others and what values we have is critical. so, i hope that you prepped those candidates. the one unique thing about new hampshire is you are first in the nation. the opportunity that you have to talk to these 20 plus candidates that will come and telling them what to hear is more than most people around the country will ever get. i would press them on that stuff because i would agree that we need less math and more heart. matt: there was one down. yes.

one down front and then one more. ok. >> i just wanted to know, you had mentioned data collection and you were going to beat the polls. do you think you could be the polls that come out in connecticut? what is going to be the difference in your data collection technique specifically for the independent variables, how a voter self identifies because that is a very fluid independent variable as opposed to something like age and gender which is pretty fixed. jesse: absolutely. i speak to you by fortune 500 companies talk all the time. there is big data coming here in a couple of weeks. they are jealous of our operation. the reason why is have you ever

had somebody come knock on your door to give you a phone call to drink pepsi over coke? probably not. we actually have a volunteer-based. our data collection is out of this world. i collect data scientists just because the fact we sit on so many records of data. back in 2014, we were processing about one million records in hours about his raw voter contact. we also realize our volunteers do not want to talk to democrats. we actually do it on our own to make sure we are talking to democrats. when we were talking about the fact of talking to local republicans, we make sure the democrats were also not turning out. we have to keep an eye on both sides of the aisle to make sure that it is actually being prefilled -- fulfilled. we were getting a broad base.

when they were doing survey sample sizes like 500 a month we were doing 1000 week in every single target state, plus the voter contact. we have so much information. >> what do you do for cell phones? when i worked on a gubernatorial campaign hours and hours i spent making phone calls and they were dead hits. the majority of my heads were dead. you don't get the cell phones, you are losing the population. jesse: every single sample is at least 30% mobile. we will make sure we have an online audience as well for people like me that will not answer my cell phone or landline. you will have to reach me online. we have accounted for all of that. it is a little more pricey, but it gives us more accurate results. matt: last question. jesse will be taking autographs and questions.

>> in connecticut, boo us. we are that. when blumenthal came into the grace, we went after him and got him out of the race. the democrats said big loser, right? i'm worried about this game with hillary. we do this go get her petition. if the democrats see how bad it is going, do not yank her and then they will put whoever they take off the shelf. what did you do? rob: let's look at b team. joe biden. martin o'malley. luscious look at martin o'malley's record in maryland. his lieutenant governor goes to run who was the architect of the obamacare rollout which was an abysmal disaster. larry hogan runs -- a

republican onewon in maryland over anthony brown. o'malley could not even carried his own lieutenant governor in maryland. that is insane. i'm not to worried about him. lynchcahassey? i think you have a very good question. they cannot get anyone up to the plate. frankly, if they were able to convince elizabeth warren, at the end of the day, to your point on the messaging if we as republicans cannot beat elizabeth warren. if america wants to go down the path of elizabeth warren, we have bigger, bigger problems -- right now, i do think they will have some very buyer's remorse when they realize that but all of their eggs in the hillary basket and that basket has problems holding eggs. if you look at their b team,

normally that is a big concern. right now, this is -- blumenthal has been a.g. for a long time. their b team -- of the 20 people that you will see this weekend none of them that i could not see being an amazing president. they are fighting you guys over your ideas and votes. their side is having a coronation. if you look now for literally who does not make it on our side, you have at least 10, 15, 20 years of top-tier candidates on our side. on their side, they have hillary or nothing. they are trying to figure out how to groom chelsea. [laughter] >> that's how we lose. be careful. rob: i will be careful of jim webb. as someone who is interacted

with him a few times i know that he is a smart man. he is not very people friendly. he chose not to seek reelection --i i'm not saying i am taking them lightly. you can never ever go into a campaign and not take it seriously. when you really look at the analysis of this, there was a reason no one has stepped up to the plate on their site so far because they cannot raise money. their own base when i give anybody above a few points as an alternative to hillary. i don't discount it. when you look at their teams and what the operations that we have on our side, we are built to take on hillary so we have a strong team on the data side communications side. if they don't run their a team, we still have a varsity team on the field. i'm very proud of the team we have built. matt: another round of applause

for the panel here. [applause] matt: i know there will be other questions. we will be out in the lobby. good luck for the rest of the day. chairman horn. announcer: the new hampshire republican party first the nation leadership summit continues today with rand paul ted cruz and lindsey graham. governor scott walker and john kasich and mike huckabee. live coverage starts at 945 9:45 a.m. eastern here on c-span. president obama is criticizing senate republicans for the delay of his attorney general nominee loretta lynch. he says it is embarrassing and that they have gone too far. president obama made those

remarks during a joint news conference with the prime minister of italy. this is just over one hour. president obama: please have a seat. it is a great pleasure to welcome my partner and friend prime minister renzi to the white house. i actually should say welcome back. not many people know this but matteo came to the white house several years ago. back then he was the young dynamic mayor of florence. today he is the young, dynamic prime minister of italy. but even then i think people recognized that he brought an energy and a sense of vision to where he wanted to see his

country go. and today is an opportunity for me to return the incredible hospitality that matteo and the italian people showed me last year in rome. one of the great cities of the world. italy of course is one of our closest and strongest allies. and any time italians and americans get together it's also a chance to celebrate the deep bonds of history and friendship and family. as i said before, i'm not lucky enough to have any italian ancestry that i know of. but i consider myself an honorary italian because i love all things italian. and the united states would not be what we are or who we are without the contributions of generations of italian americans. in rome last year matteo spoke eloquently of his visits to the american military cemetery in florence. and that's a reminder of how

italians and americans have made extraordinary sacrifices for the freedom that we cherish. now, i'm also grateful for my partnership personally with prime minister renzi. we've worked together on several occasions from rome to our nato, g7 and g20 summits. i know he is deeply committed to ure alliance. moreover i have been very impressed with the energy and the vision and the reforms that he is pursuing to unleash the potential of the italian people and the italian economy. his willingness to challenge the status quo and look to the future has made him a leading voice in europe and we're already seeing progress being made with respect to italy. matteo, i want to thank you again for the seriousness and the sense of purpose you bring to our work together here today. this morning we focus on our shared security starting in

europe. we agreed that the international community needs to continue supporting ukraine with robust assistance tass pursues economic and political reforms along with our international partners we strongly support the agreements and we agree that both russia and the ukraine must fulfill all the obble gags under these agreements. i thank the prime minister of italy's strong support for the international coalition against isil. italy, by the way, is one of the largest contributors of advisers and trainers to help build up the iraqi security forces and italy is leading the effort to ensure the area is liberated from isil's control or stabilized with an effective civilian police force. we also spent considerable time discussing our deep, shared concern for the situation in libya. where we continue to support u.n. efforts to form a unity government. given italy's leadership role

across the mediterranean the prime minister and i agreed to work together even more intense i everly to encourage cooperation -- more intensively to encourage cooperation on threats coming from libya including the growing ice ill presence there as well as additional coordination with other partners in how we can stabilize what has become a very deadly and difficult situation. more broadly, italian forces continue to play a vital role from kosovo to lebron nonto afghanistan. the coalition forces continue to train and assist afghan forces and we want to make sure we transition responsibly as we complete our consolidation by the end of next june. i updated prime minister renzi on the framework that we reached with iran. our progress toward a comprehensive deal that prevents iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and we agreed that until any final deal is reached, sanctions on iran must

continue to be fully and strictly enforced. so that's what we talked about in the morning. after this press conference we'll have lunch and that'll give us a chance to focus on what is clearly the top priority of both our people and that is creating a strong, inclusive economy that is creating jobs and opportunities on both sides of the atlantic. like me, prime minister renzi is a strong supporter of t-tip the trans atlantic trade and investment partnership which would boost both jobs and exports in europe and the united states and would include strong protections for workers and public health and safety and the environment. now that congress is considering important bipartisan legislation for trade promotion authority ttip negotiations need to make major progress this year. i look forward to hearing the prime minister's assessment of the ambitious, economic reforms he is pursuing to make italy more competitive and

reinvigorate the italian economy as a source of growth in europe. we'll be discussing europe's effort to find paths that build on recent reforms to return greece to growth within the eurozone. and we'll be discussing the importance of all our major economies taking ambitions -- ambitious action on climate change. during its presence in the eu italy showed real leadership as europe committed to new targets for reducing emissions. my work with prime minister renzi today is part of our continuing effort to forge a strong climate agreement in paris this year. finally, i want to congratulate italy and the people of milan as they prepare to host the 2015 world expo. the focus is on food. something that italy knows something about along with wine. but the expo and our u.s. pavilion is focused not only on outstanding cuisine like italy's but also how we feed a

growing planet. how we combat hunger and malnutrition. how we put healthy food on our tables. and that's a cause obviously that is very close to michelle's heart. we commend italy's leadership and i suspect many americans will be visiting milan and sampling the food and sampling the wine. matteo, gracias for your leadership in italy and europe and for your partnership on many pressing global issues. i assure you that it is a friendship and partnership that all americans treasure and we are grateful that we have such strong bonds between our people. prime minister? prime minister renzi: thank you so much, mr. president. thank you so much. it is really an honor for me and for every member of the italian government to be here in the white house in hope of

freedom around the world. i will speak in italian very quickly in order to thank the president of the united states of america for the extraordinary leadership that he has displayed both in terms of his foreign policy as well as in the economic and development models. the last time we met was in brisbane during the g20. i can only say that as a partner and as an ally i have to express my appreciation for the work that has been carried out by the united states of america and the very complex cuba issue. this has been a very complex issue. it's been difficult for the american people as well as for the cuban people as well i would like to congratulate the

president for the iranian issues because at least there is a framework an agreement which we hope will reach a conclusion by june 30. i would also like to add that when i came to the white house i brought on my behalf and all of the italians the feelings of pride for what the president mentioned earlier, for the role of so many italians in the history of the united states of america from kristoffer columbus onward as well as the appreciation and the gratefulness for the sacrifice of young men and women in the united states whom in these next few days we will remember for having liberated italy. we are very proud because they

fought against facism and went out in the mountains and they struggled. they fought. but this would not have been possible without the sacrifice and the commitment of the american army. young men and women who didn't even know italy, who died for my grandfather, for my father, for my family, and my children. this is why during these days of celebration italy i will be sure, this is the 70th year after the liberation, i will go to a place that i love particularly which is the american -- in order to honor all of the american people. i would like to thank you dear president, on behalf of ally tailians. we spoke quite a bit and spoke about a number of topics and i'm quite anxious to talk with president obama about everything that has to do with the economy. now, if you look at the last seven years, from 2008 to 2015, the american economy has had a

reduction of the unemployed and there has been a growth in the gdp. the european economy had an increase in its employment and unemployed and its g.d.p. went down. something just did not work at home. this is why i believe that the experience of the united states government is a model for the european economy. and that we have to be very careful about budgets, about the limitations, about our commitments but at the same time we have to go through a new season of growth and investments in 2014 we started with the first provisions. there is still much to be done. the american leadership for me is a point of reference. we also spoke about libya as the president said i just had a meeting during this meeting i am convinced that the united states and i, the president and i are fully on the same page in the next few weeks.

we will see that we will reach the fruits of all this commitment. everything that happened in the mediterranean sea is not merely something that has to do with security. and of course it is. but at the same time, it has to do with justice and the dignity of mankind. this is why the very authoritative cooperation that the united states and -- is for italy, an extremely important fact. we also spoke about the ukraine and we spoke about russia as the president mentioned. we also mentioned all of the issues that have to do with iran and the very complex framework in the middle east. i believe that it is very important for us to underscore how as part of this great alliance guided by the united states which is a reference

point not just for our choices but for the ideals, the cultural battle that all of us have to fight this is why, dear president, dear barack, i decided to leave you, at georgetown university i went to visit georgetown and now when i leave the white house i will go to the national gallery because i know there is an exhibition on the florentine italian renaissance and this of course is a clear message that tells us how culture is important for a young boy a young girl. this is the basis of our civilization and our future. this is a great occasion, the expo of course and i draw a few bottles of wine to barack because i know that he is a great expert. [laughter] >> i remember in an interview

about tuscan wine i remember very well a very important interview about this. but i also believe that it's very important for us, quite aside from any jokes. we must make sure that the expo becomes a great occasion for the quality of life, the lifestyle, and at the same time, to declare war against poverty. it's just not possible for us to have a word -- a world in which one billion people die because they're obese or because they don't have enough to eat. this is what the expo is going to be and the presence of the united states will be an element of great importance. thank you from the bottom of my heart. and if i may finish, i'd like to say that even if it doesn't have anything to do between the relationship between governments, i said to president obama that i wanted to thank him for his speech. this is a personal observation

but it's also a political issue. there are moments in which history can be quite extraordinary and one of these moments is what this country has lived through over the last 50 years. i think that from those of us who love politics that speech was a moment of great inspiration and very strong reflection. for this, thank you kindly, mr. president, and thank you for your warm welcome to the white house. president obama: with respect to the wine, i felt it would be insulting for me not to sample it. and, and, to establish the strong commercial bind, bonds between the united states of america when it comes to tuscan wine.

so i will give you, matteo, a report on whether it is up to the quality that we expect. with that, let me call on roberto ramden of reuters. >> thanks. president obama, some congressional leaders yesterday came to a deal on fast track for trade but it's clear that many in your party are opposed, including senator schummer. and are you worried that your support for this is going to divide your party going into 2016? and prime minister, how confident are you that greece will reach an agreement with it is he had creditors by the end

of this month? how are each of you the effects this could have on the global economy if a deal is not reached? >> on trade, -- president obama. trade promotion authority is not in agreement. it gives us a structure whereby one is presented, it can move forward in a quicker fashion and not get completely bogged down in the usual procedures. i would be receiving the same authority that every president in the post-era would, with the exception of richard nixon. is not exceptional in that sense there are requirements for enforceable labor, environmental provisions.

there is a clear attention to issues like human rights. in many ways, this is the most far-reaching and progressive we have seen going through congress. that is important. as i have said before, it is entirely understandable that there is some skepticism around trade from working families who live in a town that saw manufacturing collapse and jobs being outsourced. people recognize that there had been circumstances in the past in which trade may have contributed to aggregate growth of the global economy or u.s. economy but hurt workers. and we have learned lessons from that. and this trade promotion authority, thanks to the work of senator widen and hatch, reflects some of those lessons. now in terms of actually getting a deal done?

the first trade agreement we potentially would present under this trade promotion authority would be the trans-pacific partnership or tpp. i spoke of this before but i will just repeat that 95% of the world's markets are outside of our borders. the fastest growing markets, the most populous markets are going to be in asia. if we do not help to shape the rules so that our businesses and our workers can compete in these markets, then, china will set up rules that advantage chinese workers and chinese businesses. and that will set the stage over the next 20 to 30 years for us being locked out, us being unable to protect our businesses from discrimination, our agricultural products being excluded from these areas.

high tariffs that prevent us from being able to compete fairly. when it comes to services or comes to the internet, for example, our ability to maintain intellectual property protection or freedom in the internet or other requirements that tilt the playing field against u.s. workers, that is what is going to happen. so we are doing is negotiating the highest level, the highest standard trade agreement in our history, with strong enforceable labor provisions, strong enforceable environmental provisions, and, i will be able to show when the final agreement is presented, that this is absolutely good for not just american businesses but for american workers. and it is good for our economy. it is the right thing to do. now, last point i will make on this, the politics around trade has always been tough, particularly in the democratic

party, because people have memories of outsourcing and job loss. the point i have made to my labor friends and my progressive friends is, that, you know is that companies that are looking for low-cost labor have already left. we are at a disadvantage right now. the trade agreement i am proposing would actually strengthen our building to force other markets open and to strengthen our position compared to where we are right now. and being opposed to this new trade agreement is essentially a gratification of the status quo where a lot of folks are selling here but we are not selling there. japan is one of the negotiation is -- the negotiators in this deal. last time i checked, there were a whole bunch of japanese cars.

you go to tokyo and count how many chryslers and ford and gm cars there are. the current situation is not working for us, and i don't know why this, it is u.s. underscore u.s. beef. it does not make sense. i think it is important when you talk about dividing the party. we have a grand prix trade agreement of panama pre-trade agreement passed over the last years during my pregnant -- during my presidency. they're going to be southern democratic senate and house members who traditionally on principle -- the unions on

principle are opposed to trade and then there are others, like me who believe that we cannot stop a global economy at our shores. we've got to be in there and compete and we are writing the rules so we have a little plan. when they do, products by americans, services by american firms are the best in the world. i will continue to make that argument and for those who argued that somehow this is contrary to the interest of working families, when i tell them is my whole presidency has been about helping working families and lifting up wages and getting work is more opportune days. if i do not think this deal was doing it, i would not do it. i did not get elected because of the sponsorship of the business roundtable and the chamber of commerce. those about the one who brought me. the reason i am doing it is

because i know this is an important thing to do and i also know that throughout asia, we are out there competing and that we will help maintain international rules that are fair for everybody and not so tilted in favor of one country that it ends up being bad for not only are commercial prospects, but other countries over the long-term. that was a long answer but of the question. matteo renzi: very briefly yes at the same time -- the situation in greece is not the situation in europe. it is not 2011, 2008. it is a different time. we must absolutely strongly work to achieve an agreement to --.

to achieve an agreement, it is important the greece government respect not all the agreements of the past because in the european council, we accept a very lower principle is there is a moment of election and a new leader. in this case, the vote of citizens in greece. but a framework of agreement and the european institutions which is important in the greece -- which is important that the greece government respect. for the future, we must write a new page in the european economy . i am absolutely confident that it is possible to achieve this

goal -- the national government must do reforms. this is important, first of all for italy. we realize that it is to our citizens and not the european institution. then we can finally open a discussion about the relationship of austerity and growth in european economy. now is the time to respect the new framework of agreement and we will work in this direction. >> mr. president, some of your promises have already brought investors from the u.s. to italy. now these investors would like to know what all these reforms are going -- when they are going

to take place. can you give us a better idea? you talk about austerity and growth. the markets are preoccupied. we have finances in a difficult situation. how can you reconsidering a this austerity -- we conciliate this austerity when our public finances are in bad shape? and i would like to know the gip? you explain time and again about germany called in europe to inflationary obsessions. now you have just heard that things are changing in europe and there were public policies and the ecb taking national with the qe auction. is that enough? has it europe and italy done enough? is your complaint over germany over? and did you agree or discuss this about drones with -- to italy?

matteo renzi: three questions in one. three questions in one. >> a special offer. matteo renzi: first of all, the timeline for reforms -- i think that i can say that americans want to invest in italy and we finally have a neighbor market which is more flexible. this has been achieved. but say that we have an institutional system public and the next six months, everything will be done. [indiscernible]

many people would like to stop scratch because reforms have begun and they are on their way. if there is no way anybody is going to block them. people who wish to do that at this time, find the labor market that is not simple -- that is exemplified, the people who work they are high-quality people and i think that will be necessary the next few months. the issues education because in the global world, in order to be a leader is not the number of inhabitants because italy does not have that many but it is the position even though our ideas development and future. in terms of austerity, i think

that is important. i know that we have to bet on growth. the united states are a lot of -- are the model. it shows the results of the united states and what europe is doing in the last seven years. obviously, this a test -- this attests to the united states but it proves that based on austerity in europe, is not going in europe. we have discussed this with president obama. we cannot just look at our budget as the course. italy has obligations and it

really is that going all obligations and rules. we believe that 2015 has to be the turning point. we know that gip, italy has everything to gain from the trade and economics. also because we believe that with the united states and if we can reach trade agreements of china and asia and other areas of the world, it would achieve a dimensional and keith fiscal of having the same relationship in the logic of our historic friendship. going back to our own party, we represent a party in italy which

i would like to call the democratic party one day at a european level. our party maintains, even though there are many visits from germany. i am fully determined to find the agreement and we will talk about this during our lunch hour as well. president obama: first of all, let me make sure that i correct something i consistently criticize. from the time i came into office , the great recession, there have been competing economic series in terms of what the best way to pull us out of the financially induced crisis of this scale.

it was our strong belief that it was important for us to make the investments to boost demand, to put money in the pockets of consumers, to strengthen and fortify the banking system so that we would not see a repeat of the kinds of bailout practices and irresponsible practices on wall street. and that the best way to bring down the deficit was not just cut spending for to grow the economy. as well as initiate because structural reforms were on health care and education. research and development that would be important for long-term growth. i think we have already succeeded in stabilizing the

economy and putting it on a growth trajectory. we now see five street years of job rate increase. we have done this while reducing the deficit by two thirds primarily because the economy grew much faster. it has been my view, with respect to europe, that it is not in either or situation. sometimes it gets framed as what is the right answer for europe? austerity or structural reform? my attitude has been, yes, you need structural reforms. if the label markets are too stuck then it is hard to hire particularly for young people. if there is too much bureaucracy to start a new business, then businesses will go elsewhere and

they will start them someplace else. i think finance to run the government is on the right track by initially -- by initiating the structural reforms. other economists have called them for a long time would have also said is --. when i have also said is that there has been longtime inflation. we were saying in your that over the course of the last four years, boosting demand is also important. having some flexibility at meeting fiscal targets is also important. the sustainability of structural reforms depends on people feeling some sense of hope and solace. if all it is is getting squeezed but there is no growth, over time, the political consensus breaks down.

not only do you not get structural reforms, but you also end up reverting to some of the old patterns that do not work. i think that the approach m thatatteo -- that matteo is describing is the right ones that have the flexibility and strategy for increasing demand and increasing investment by the way, here in the united states we are not done. i would like to see us rebuild our structure across the country. that it's a smart investment to make right now and put people back to work. it would boost additional demand , more workers would be employed they would be able to spend money. it is a virtual cycle but it is something we need to do to stay competitive. it is a smart combination. this is not just the u.s. care

globally, all of us have to recognize that it is weak. china is making necessary transitions toward a more consumer-based rather than expert-based economy, but that does not mean they will be going as fast and that has meant that suppliers of raw material to china are seeing their economies often. -- the economy softened. i have said that don't expect united states will be the engine for everybody. don't accept the they will keep selling to the united states. that will benefit anybody. and those are concerns that i have expressed across the border. and the last point i would like to make that applies to greece as well, i think matteo is right. greece may soon issue initiate reforms.

they have to collect taxes. they had to reduce their bureaucracy and have flexible labor practices. when the new prime minister came in, i called him and i said, we recognize that you need to show your people there is hope and you can grow. we will be supportive of some flexibilities and how you move forward so you can make investments. it is not just squeezing blood from a stone, but you have to show those who are extending credit, those who are supporting your financial system and that you are trying to help yourself. and that requires making tough decisions that i think matteo is beginning to make. we do not discuss drones, we did not. last question from this site is margaret teller.

margaret: you are, mr. president and mr. renzi. i would like to ask you about iran. i would hope you would bring us up to speed a little bit on the prospects for confirmation. have you do not? on iran, so much has happened so this will be one of my three-part questions. the compromise this week was a significant concession and i'm wondering if you believe that you have now weathered anymore congressional aides to derail this or are you concerned that because it has become a polarized issue -- and do you have -- you have suggested but not said explicitly that there must be a fee -- a fake out in order to -- can you be

definitive on that and might you be willing to release part or all of that hundred billion and frozen oil assets? iran has an offshore account and you seem to be floating the idea that you might want to say something about russia lifting it's been on the missiles to iran. mr. renzi, i wanted to ask you about drones, but that did not come up. there has been some deeply troubling news about some of the migrants coming from libya to italy, reports of violence by muslims. what i wanted to ask you was how are you managing this? are you confident that italy is able to control those extremists coming into europe through italy? you are. president obama: all right, i

wrote them down. on iran i thought michael corcoran ben cardin came to a reasonable compromise. i had to dump concerns from the start -- to concerns from the start. with respect to any steps taken by congress. the first was to make sure that their action did not derail or prevent us being able to get the best deal -- possible. and john kerry, when he is in the negotiations and not being hobbled and things being more complicated by congressional action until we have a deal. my basic argument was, let us show you there is a deal or not. if there is, we will have ample opportunity to review it or pine

on it, but right now, we are still negotiating, so have some patience. i think the final product that emerged out of the corker carded negotiations, we believe will not derail the negotiations. that checked off one box. the second concern i had was just an issue of the presidential prerogatives. there were a number of people who were supporting corker's legislation, suggesting that as a routine matter, president needs to get signoff from congress to negotiate political agreements. that is not the case. that has never been the case. this is not warm up in -- formal treaty and they have been able

to -- we have been able to enter medical agreements without congressional approval. i still have some concerns about the suggestion that that tradition was in some ways changed, but there was language in the legislation that spoke to this being directly related to congressional sanctions. and that i think at least allows me to interpret legislation that it is not sending a future message to presidents that every time they are negotiating a political agreement, they have to get congressional authorization. so, the final think i will say about the corker legislation is

that both senator corker and senator cardin, from my understanding, agreed that there is not going to be a whole bunch of poison or additional provisions or amendments added and that they will be protected by this being a straightforward, fair process for congress to be able to evaluate any deal we may come up with an then -- and then register the views. it is not going to be tilted in the direction of trying to kill the deal. i think they meant their word on that and we will continue to monitor that. assuming wetlands on my desk is what senators corker and cardin agreed to, i will sign it. and that will then give congress an opportunity to see if we have a deal that reflects the political agreement i talked about earlier. i expect that it will. we expect to the issue of

sanctions coming down -- i don't want to get ahead of john kerry and my negotiators in terms of how to craft this. i would just make a general observation. and that is how sanctions are lessened. how we snapped back sanctions if there is a violation. there are a lot of mechanisms and ways to do that. part of john's job and iranian negotiators job and the p5+1 job is to find formulas i get to the main concerns while allowing the other side to make a presentation to their party

politic that is more acceptable. our main concern here is making sure that if iran does not abide by its agreement, then we don't have to jump through a whole bunch of hoops in order to reinstate sanctions. that is our main concern, and i think that gold cash that goal of having in reserve the possibility of putting back and applying forceful sanctions in the event of a violation, that gold can be met. -- that goal can be met. that requires creative negotiations by john kerry and others, and i'm confident we will be successful. i very much appreciate, by the way, the support that has been provided by prime minister renzi as well as his former minister who is now the representative in many of the discussions. and with respect to the russian

topic, this was an issue that was slated to happen in 2009. when i first met with them -- prime minister putin -- they actually stopped the sale,'s or suspended the sale at our request. and i am frankly surprised that it helped this one, given that they were not prohibited by sanctions from selling these defense of weapons. when i say i am not surprised some of the deterioration between russia and the united states, and the fact that their economy is under strain. i do think that it sends a

message about how important it is for us to look like we are credible and negotiations. if in fact a deal fails and we are needing to maintain -- because i have heard some in congress who are opposed to this deal say that let's just slap on even more sanctions or we will do sanctions unilaterally regardless of what other countries are willing to do. the reason that the sanctions regime has worked is because painstakingly, we built on international coalitions that has held this long. if it is perceived that we walked away from a fair deal that gives us assurances a rock -- iran to get a nuclear weapon, then those are national sanctions we will frame. it won't just be russia or china

, it will be some of our close allies and we will start questioning what our capacity and wisdom of maintaining this. we don't want to put ourselves in that condition. we want to make sure that if there is no deal around iran nuclear program is because iranians were not willing to accept with international community considered to be appropriate and a fair approach to this problem. ok? shoot. [laughter] president obama: see, i'm so not finished. about loretta lynch, we've actually seen some outbreaks of bipartisanship and common sense in congress over the last couple of weeks. lastly, i signed the sgr six

that initiates not only some real reforms around how our health care system works that expands insurance for children. we just talked about what i think was constructive process to resolve the question of congressional involvement in iran. yet, what we still have is this crazy situation where a woman that everybody agrees is qualified and who has gone after terrorists, worked with police officers to get gangs off the streets, who has been trusted by the civil rights community and by police unions as being somebody who was there and affected and a good manager. nobody suggests otherwise. who has been cut from twice

before by the united states senate for one of the biggest long present jobs in the country. as been now sitting there longer than the previous seven. combined. there is no reason for it. nobody can describe the reason for it beyond political gamesmanship in the senate. on an issue unrelated to her. this is a top law enforcement job in the country. and as my attorney general who has to read -- less to interact with his or her italian counterparts and be on counterterrorism issues and dealing with interpol and even with national security. coordinate with our fbi, what are we doing here?