country's role in the middle east and the conflicts in syria iran and yemen. he will be speaking at the carnegie endowment for international peace. live coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. eastern. announcer: challenging the new fcc internet rules, five organizations are filed lawsuits against the fcc. monday night on the communicators, we will speak with the president and ceo of one of those organizations. walter sukkot -- mccormick. and christopher lewis >>. >> we are we challenging the classification of internet access. we are turning it into a common carrier service pursuant to 19th-century railroad delayed. common carriage is a vestige of the english common law which

applied to railroads, then trucking companies, and then to airlines, but it has been revealed for all of those industries going on over 30 years ago. it proved to impose a cost on consumers, delayed deployment, slowed innovation, and chilled investment. >> we both agree that the neutrality protections are important. that's an important thing to start with. we do disagree with the lawsuit. we have been very supportive of the rules that the fcc enacted. they have now become a force of law. we think that after a decade of working towards a way to have net neutrality rules that can hold up into court, this is the strongest protections we have seen in the three different attempts at the agency to ensure that the internet remains open. announcer: monday night at 8:00

p.m. eastern on the communicators on c-span2. announcer: the new hampshire republican party's began a two-day summit on friday that included several potential gop presidential candidates. next, we will hear from some of the speakers, beginning with new jersey governor chris christie followed by former florida governor jeb bush, and ohio governor john kasich [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you all. i appreciate it. thank you very much. good to be back here in new hampshire. i was on my way appear this morning and my sun watcher, who is 14, texted me. he was at school and said, where are you? i said, i am on my way to new hampshire. he is a bit of a wise guy.

i don't know where that comes from. [laughter] he said, your new home state? i'm happy to be back. we have been up a few days this week. we had a great time at a town hall meeting. i see some familiar faces who were there on wednesday. i appreciate you coming. i want to spend most of my time taking questions from you, but i was a couple of things off the top. first, i gave a speech on entitlement reform. the speech i gave is very simple and very direct. 71%, 71% of the federal budget is now spent on entitlement's, compared to 26% 50 years ago. if anybody comes up on this stage was a talk about national defense, education, research and development, tax cut or anything else involving the federal

government, you should asked him what they're going to do on entitlements. because if they are not going to do something to fix the problem, we're not going to be able to deal with any of the other problems or opportunities that we have in this country. i am used to this. when i got to new jersey, we had an $11 billion deficit. my democratic legislature sent me a tax increase. one of five that they sent me. i vetoed all five and we balanced the budget by cutting 800 programs in new jersey in order to balance the budget. there are ways we can put our fiscal house in order in this country, and we need to. and everybody is considering running for president of the united states to have to answer for you what they are going to do regarding the cost of entitlement programs in the country, and how they're going to make it fair for everybody, not just from one generation but for all generations. from the day the president

announced in 2007, he does not talk about it. reason because there's not some short answer you can read off a teleprompter tell you what to do. the reason he has not talked about it is the same reason you have the problems all over the world -- iran moving towards a nuclear weapon, syria on fire, libya on fire, egypt under martial law, troubles all across the world, vladimir putin charging into eastern europe. the reason for this is because the people around the world know the same thing that the people in the united states know, that we have a weak president who has weakened our country, and they are taking advantage of that in every way they possibly can. we can no longer afford to have weakness in the oval office. we have to have strength and clarity and hard truths, and that is why i started by talking about entitlements. it's not the easiest thing in

the world. let me ask you this, why would i talk about those things if they were not true? there is no political advantage to talking about those issues. the reason you talk about them is because you want to really make suggestions that will help to solve the problems that our country confronts and just as importantly take advantage of the extraordinary opportunities that we have. we have extraordinary opportunities as a country. we should be simplifying our tax system and lowering taxes for corporations and individuals so we can get economic growth. this president takes victory laps on 2.5% gdp growth. let him go into families of children who have graduated from college who cannot find a job , saddled with enormous debt, and feeling like we may be the first generation that leaves america a weaker, lesser base for the next generation than what was left us. the only reason you should consider running for president

is if you want to turn around, if you want american be a leader in the world again, to get our own house in order so other nations want to emulate us. and we need to work together as republicans. and then we have to work together when we get to washington to solve these problems. the american people are anxious. they're filled with anxiety, not anger. they're worried about the country, and they should be. and the reason for that is absolutely feckless leadership by this president. all he cares now is about his legacy and his library, the two l's. that is all that is left legacy, library. he does not care about anything else. i will end with this. and then i will take your questions. i think it is a national disgrace when the president of

united states sits down and considers taking cuba off the terrorist watchlist, when in my state, a woman murdered a state trooper, tried, convicted, roque out of prison, escaped to cuba and the castro regime for 40 years has paid her, harbored her, while this trooper's widow and his children live in pain in new jersey. she is on the fbi's domestic terrorist watchlist, and he wants to take him off the terrorist watchlist while they harbor this woman. that is why i said that is all he cares about. if cuba wants to normalize relations with the united states, they should act like a civilized country. [applause]

you know, some people say i am too blunt and direct. i'm too straightforward. i think we could use a little of that in washington, d.c. [applause] you may not always agree with every word that comes out of my mouth, but you will never have to wonder what i am thinking. you will never have to wonder what i am feeling. and you will never have to wonder what direction i am leading my state or any other leadership position i ever get an opportunity to pursue. i think the american people are hungry for that after nearly seven years of a type of aimless leadership that we have had from barack obama. so, i am much more comfortable taking questions. so why don't we take questions. who has got them? yes, sir, in the back.

there we go. >> hello, governor. you mentioned entitlement reform. a couple of thoughts that i had. how do you feel about work for welfare check? or, perhaps means testing social security benefits? or what would you do to prevent ssdi from going bankrupt? and what are your thoughts about reforming medicare and medicaid? governor christie: means testing for social security, yes. we should do it. it seems to me if you're making more than $200,000 a year in retirement income, you do not

need to get social security. social security should be an insurance policy against poverty for the elderly. we do not want any of our elderly living in poverty. think about it. if you have $200,000 in annual retirement income, that means that at a minimum you have about $4 million saved. fact is we have to make choices in this country. and on the disability insurance program, which is going to go bankrupt by 2016, we said let's follow a program that have in the netherlands which which is before you go on disability, yet have to develop a rehabilitation plan and engage in a rehabilitation plan to get yourself back to work. let's provide tax incentives for businesses that are willing to hire those folks back after they do the rehabilitation program. let's make the system more streamlined and let's tighten

the rules for getting on disability in the first place. there have been some months in this administration where more people have gone on to social security disability than have gotten the job. that is outrageous. that is why the system is near bankruptcy. i think we should put everybody to work who is able-bodied and can work. all the things that underpin what i talked about on social security, if people are going to work past the age of 62, no more payroll tax after the age of 62. if you want to work past the age of 62, we want to encourage that. because we live longer. if you want to work past 62, , you have paid enough in payroll tax. [applause] america needs to be working. that is what we are going to get our gdp growing. that's held going to get our economy moving again. and we need to encourage people of all ages to be working hard

and contribute into our economy. we have 12 different points on social security and medicare and medicaid. i will go through all of them now. you can see all of them. they are available to you. the idea is not saying i think we should do something on social security and i will get to back to you. these are real ideas. a lot of people say, why would you want to suggest those things? because we have to. if you want to start a national conversation, let's start one that matters. yes, ma'am, right there. >> this is not my question, but it goes on what you just said. some people that are on social security disability cannot work. our sun has asberger's syndrome and he is 24, but he can never hold a job. governor christie: that is what it is for.

what this gentleman is talking about and what i am saying is social security disability should be there for the people who need it. medicare should be there for everyone who wants to participate. my point is for those who are gaming the system, it is bankrupting the system. and we do not have enough money to pay for all of this. we agree. someone like your son, it needs to be there. that is what the program was set up for, to deal with issues like that, not to have more people going on disability then you have getting a job in this country. >> i wanted make sure that you understood. a lot of people don't understand that. my real question was on immigration. what do you think -- what would you do about all these illegal immigrants that we have in this country taking jobs away from americans who need the jobs, and were would you do about securing our borders? governor christie: on securing

our borders, the executive branch's job is to do the things you are supposed to do to protect our country. one of the most important things you have to do is to protect the sovereignty and security of the country. if you are president, that is what you need to do. i am not somebody who is were -- for building a wall from one and two the other. i'm not think that is smart or efficient. there is a lot of different ways we can do it. with manpower, fences, and some surveillance electronic equipment. the other way you do it is when you set up a fair system in this country that actually works, you go to employers and say if you employ people who are here illegally, you're going to be gone after. folks come here to work. [applause] you can't have it one way where we are going to build a wall and that will solve the problem. walls can be gotten over. the reason people come here is to work.

and so if we have employers that we are going to clamp down on folks who are hiring people in this manner, once we set up a fair system that everybody is signed on to, i think you will really decrease the amount of people wanting to come here. because they will know that if you come here, you're not going to work. i will tell you this -- i am not someone who believes that for the people who are here already that they are going to self-deport. not something that i think is going to happen. the fact is for our society we do not have enough law enforcement people to roundup 10 million or 12 million people whatever number you want to use. so we better get together as a party first and then as a country and decide how we deal with these problems in a way that makes sense. there has been no consensus, because there has been no leadership from the white house. and now the president does executive orders, which in my

view are it legal, which is why i joined the lawsuit opposing the action. and it is an abdication of leadership. [applause] the person in charge cannot say i do not want to work with the congress. he has got to work with the congress. let's remember something he , could have tried to fix this problem before when he had a democratic congress. he did not fix it then either . we need to get together and come to a consensus on how to do with this and bring our country together, not split our country apart. that's the way we go about doing it. yes, sir. right there. >> as someone just turned 63 on tax day i like your payroll tax proposal. in all seriousness, you are saying what i would have asked all of the candidates. everyone wants to grow the

economy, but the gdp and our national debt are perilously close to each other. and every economist will tell you that that is a scary place to be. i do not think just entitlement reform is enough, and people say 1%, let's start in the right direction. i think we need more reduction of the government, and if so what would you cut out, what would you reduce, where would you basically make some of the government people unemployed? governor christie: let's remember a couple of statistics. remember that the numbers are that in federal spending 71% of federal spending is on entitlements. 29% is on everything else. so it is a lot of it. the reason that we have not dealt with this, and the reason why i think we have additional

trillions and trillions of dollars in debts that we have is not only expansion of the government under barack obama but the refusal to deal with , those issues. in the last 25 years, medicaid has grown over 800%, while the economy in the last 25 years has grown 200%. i was a political science major, not a math major, but even a political science major can do that math. even i can do that math. it does not work. let me tell you what we did in new jersey and give you an indication of what i think needs to be done on a national level. when i came in we had a $29 billion budget and an $11 billion deficit. we went through the budget line by line and we cut 800 programs in order to balance the budget. we did not raise taxes on the people of new jersey, and have not for the 5 1/2 years i have been governor. [applause] so i will not stand up here off the top of my head and go

through the federal government and start cutting programs. you have to have the will and resolve to do it. the only way you will know if someone does is to look at what they have done before. have they just talked about it or have asked redundant? in new jersey we have actually , done it. now we have at six years of balanced budgets. gone from 13% nonrecurring revenues down to 3%. that means you are limiting the structural deficit as well. i will take you that cutting alone will not fix this problem. we have to grow the economy at 4% or better because we are not going to cut away our way out of an $18 trillion problem. it has to be both. you have to be resolved to do that. that is why i lead with entitlements. if you're going to do with the physical problems of our country, why would you go first to the place where 29% of your spending is rather than where 71% of your spending is? it's just logical, but it's politically risky because you

are going to turn 63. you like my payroll tax id. but there are going to be other people who do not like some of the other ideas. you know what -- i do not run for governor to be elected prom king. [laughter] i'm not looking to be the most popular guy in the world. i'm looking to be the most respected one. the way to do that is put forward real ideas. [applause] yes, sir, right there. >> thank you for taking my question. i'm the vice-chairman of the latino national republican coalition of long island. common core is an issue close to my heart, and i want to know what your stance is on common core. if you were president, what would you do with common core? governor christie: common core before the obama administration, was a state-by-state proposition. done by the governors, and the federal government had little

role in it. then the administration started to federalize that program. my predecessor started to intimate common core before i got in. i finished it. i can tell you what we found in new jersey in the effectiveness of common core is open to question. four months ago i put together a group of parents and teachers and administrators to come back to me and say we have high standards in new jersey that we developed ourselves, and i want to know what we should be doing to get higher standards in new jersey that does not have to do with common core. they're coming back to me with their recommendations about what they think we think we should do. what i'm concerned about is the further education gets away from the local community, the more difficult it is for parents to affect that education and as a parent of children, the most

important people to a child's education, more important than teacher, the principal, are their parents. [applause] if we want to have parents to have buy-in to whatever standards we're setting and have them be part of the team to raise our children up to those standards, they better be involved in deciding what the standards should be. so that is my view on it. yes, sir. right here. >> governor, i want to ask a question about you, ok? governor christie: sure. i like your frankness. >> i like your proposals. it is in the bible the truth

will set you free. you think by speaking truth to power, not a personality contest, you can get elected? governor christie: i do not know. if i run, i will find out. [laughter] [applause] i am not changing. i get this question all the time, not exactly years, but especially from the media. do you have to change? to round off a couple of those rough edges? i do not know what they are talking about. the fact is this -- i am a republican in new jersey. come and try that for a couple days, ok? we haven't elected a republican to the senate in 42 years. it is the longest streak of any state in america not to elect a republican to the senate. 42 years. this is not a place where

republicans go to grow, prosper, and win elections, all right? if people are waiting for me to be the nicest guy in the room, the most subtle guy in the room, if i had waited for that, i would not be in this room. in the end, i do not know the answer to your question. i do not know whether you can speak these kinds of truths, lead with entitlement reform and take off after folks the way i have and be elected. i do not know. but i will to you this -- one, i will not change. i will be who i am so that if you do ever elect me to something else you will know , exactly who the person is sitting behind that desk. second, i am not going to tack and move and flip-flop and pander because i am looking in

your eyes trying to figure out what he wants to hear. tell it to you, and pray to god that you don't remember what i said when i go and do the opposite, ok question mark that's not who i am who i have , ever been, who i am going to be. this could wind up being a grand experiment. i think is one, given the conditions our country is in right now, that might just be worth taking. yes, sir. right there. >> governor, i appreciate your frankness. my name is stephen hill and 50 million americans are struggling with food insecurity issues, more and more veterans dealing with that. it do you think it will hear more from candidates talking let the issues of hunger and poverty and meaningful solutions to these issues? governor christie: we should. i will tell you that part of that is what underpins the

entitlement reforms, the proposals i made this week. the underpinning of those proposals are that these programs we provide through the government should first take care of the folks that need it the most. and we should be trying to make sure that we do not have the elderly living in poverty. that we don't have the elderly having to decide between going to the doctor and buying food. that we make sure that people are going to get health care who are indigent, not through the emergency room, which is the most ineffective and expensive way to provide health care. but that they should do it in a managed care situation where , they see a doctor, an officer in a clinic. it is much more efficient for their health and as a result will be better for the taxpayer. but those are the tough conversations that we have to

have to discuss the issues. anything else you might want to do to deal with those issues has to come out of that 29%. we are underselling of the -- underselling our national defense right now. we are going from a 600 ship navy to a 260 ship navy in a world that is more dangerous and -- than at any time in my life. our air force is flying the most antiquated set of airplanes than they have in the air force's history. that is the national defense that we are not investing in. the programs that you are talking about, if we want to make tuition more affordable for families around the country if , we want to make sure that we cut taxes so people have more money in their pockets rather than sending it to washington, we better deal with the other stuff as well. and so, we have to have this honest conversation, because if we don't, nothing else will be possible. i heard someone say, before we take something away from someone we should eliminate all government waste.

listen everybody i don't think , there is anybody who is before government waste. including me. i am opposed to government waste. [laughter] after that, it's time to get to work. you saw the other stuff that is bankrupting us. we have done, as i has set in new jersey, a lot of things to combat that . we had less employees now than when i started. that is making government smaller. have to deal with other things first. we a