the meaningful use a has become obsolete and needs to be -- obsolete and needs to be tuned up since it was passed. thank thank you for agreeing to work with the chairman and the committee on the key goals that we should be achieving. i would encourage you to think big in encouraging completing that. let's get this right. to follow up on what senator warren was saying, i'm interested in what you have been able to document by way of consequences for failures to adequately fund our scientific and medical research. it strikes me that you could probably tell me that there is a

return on investment from the research that we do, if we don't fund the research we lose that fund and investment. you probably have examples of human benefits from the scientific research, which is foregone human costs, and you probably also pay some attention to the country's global competitiveness in this field. if you could comment on those three areas on what you think is the payback for investment, or if you want to put it contrarily, not funding research. dr. collins: i appreciate the opportunity to talk about those consequences. put up another graph which

reveals the difficulties that are present in this country beginning back in 2003. what i am showing you the opportunity that an investigator that comes to nih with their best ideas has of getting funded. most research done in this country and our nation's finest universities is supported by an age -- nih. that has been in the space of 25-35% success rate. 1-3. that means two thirds of the people are sent away. now it is about one in six. that is unhealthy. we have looked at what has happened in the past. there is a lot of great science between the 15th percentile and the 30th percentile, and we are not funding that. half of what we should be supporting is left on the table. we don't know what we are missing in that regard. the next great idea about cancer

may have been one of those that didn't quite make the cut. in terms of your question about medical consequences, i'm a physician. the reason i love being at nih is the hope that this is going to change things for the better. our track record is striking in terms of longevity and prevention of disease. it is frustrating that we are going more slowly. i promise you when we sit around the table to figure out what to do, we still prioritize, we try to push forward. we are just going more slowly. we need more advances in cancer. we need an universal vaccine. in terms of the -- that has been documented over and over. a dollar returns $2.25. we support jobs directly across the country in all 50 states on

the basis of the grants that we give out. you asked about global competitiveness. we were the unquestioned leader of the world on biomedical research until recently. that is no longer to be taken for granted. when we see countries like china and india to singapore and south korea upping their investment sometimes in double digits, we are losing that. senator whitehouse: when they are making those increases in investments, do they have an eye on us as a target? or are they doing this in a general way? dr. collins: a little of both. they read our playbook and saw what it did for america's economy. and the small businesses. they want to do what we did. i don't know if you would say they are gunning for us but they are trying to learn from our experience and re-create that in their environment. one statistic that i think particularly renders this very serious last year, china filed more patents in bioscience than

the united states. that was not even a close competition. they have jumped ahead of us. those panton's result in claims they're going to ultimately spinoff new businesses. we have to take that more seriously. senator whitehouse: thank you. does that mean china will start respecting patents more? dr. collins: i think i better not comment on that. [laughter] >> to get the man in trouble. senator baldwin: thank you. i appreciate you and the making member holding this hearing. giving us the opportunity to learn more about the administration's precision medicine initiative. we are excited because it is lifesaving potential because it is breakthrough potential. i am excited about having the

honor of representing a state that has been a leader in setting the stage for some of the things we are talking about today and precision medicine from the isolation of the first embryonic stem cells to the discovery of polymorphisms at marshfield clinic, a major discovery that has had a big impact on the study of human genetics and the clinic has since developed there a significant genetic bio bank, one of the larger ones, with information from over 20,000 central wisconsin residents. dr. collins, i know you have been asked iterations of this question before by my colleagues on the committee. if you have more to add, i would like to hear more about how you will utilize the existing data,

like data like i just described collected by the marshfield clinic, and real-world clinical data. how will you use those and share those in ways to create personalized therapies? dr. collins: that is a great question. marshfield is a great field in this. it is something we are looking to his experience to share with us. he was at the white house when the president announced this january 30. in this workshop we are going to hold at the end of this month at vanderbilt, we will really look hard the ways kaiser permanente am a geithner, and the veterans project as well, the assembled into a synthetic cohort not

having to do all the work from scratch, but making the whole greater than the sum of its parts. this initiative builds power by numbers. that is one of the reasons we are so excited about being able to say that word million, which would not have been in the vocabulary of most people planning these things until recently. we want to take every kind of opportunity to build on the experience that has been obtained in places like marshfield. they have found individuals who ought to be sick but they are not. they have some kind of resilience. some people call them genetic heroes. there is something about them that we need to understand because they have a resistance to disease that we could perhaps learn more about a figure how to share with other people. that is one kind of insight that they have got the start on. if you had one million people you could find a lot more. >> i want to follow on a discussion you were just having

about research workforce. you were talking about funding and reducing percentage. research grant applications that are actually funded. i am curious to know what impact this may have on the changing nature of the research workforce. doctors have happened on discoveries of therapies in the course of treating patients. they do not know their patients unique reaction has potential for a break for the -- breakthrough. what opportunities are presented through this initiative? dr. collins: another great question. i am glad you brought it up. this initiative will not reach its full potential if it doesn't lure and recruit all kinds of people from different disciplines to get together to

work on this. it was such a historic opportunity that people who never thought of themselves as working in that space decided to make it their passion. the same can happen here. we would want to have computational experts. we have large data sets. this is the world of big data. we would want have technology developers to the figure out ways to look at your dna sequence but what about all of those metabolites in your system? we could look at hundreds of those, all the technologies we mentioned about mobile health. there are lots of opportunities there as well. as physicians you can begin to figure how you take this kind of data and implement that in a real-world setting in order to improve health outcomes? when i look at the way we practice medicine today compared to when i was a resident in medicine in 1979, it is not that

different. we have such a long way to go here in terms of incorporating the new technologies coming along. this is going to be a wonderful laboratory for all kinds of people to get involved and figure out what kind of discoveries can be made and what use can we put to them. i hope that it will be filled with that innovative talent. senator baldwin: with your indulgence, one quick question. you can answer for the record. there is incredible potential in what we are talking about. it also strikes me that there is incredible potential for fraud for folks, as this develops offering selling fraudulent interventions that are personalized medicine. i would like -- it can be after the hearing to hear from you more about how the fda will work to ensure patient safety in the

age of precision medicine. dr. collins: i will take a quick moment just to say -- >> we would like to know the answer. >> beyond fraud, the part of having a test out there that doesn't work, it is being sold, this is one of the impetus. there are some great test out there. there are some bad tests out there. let me give you an example. something called kipsecks. it is predicting people for staten treatment. we saw the data on a hit. laboratory developed tests are selling it. there was a meta-analysis and 19 clinical studies for the test doesn't work. the tried a randomized test on

18,000 patients to test, doesn't work. and this was reported in 2010, 100 50,000 people got that test. we estimate the cost may have been upwards of $2.4 billion. that test is still available today. that doesn't serve patients well and it doesn't serve precision medicine. it undermines our efforts to make sure we get meaningful tests out there and the right treatment to the right patients. senator murray, -- >> senator baldwin: how are patient supposed to know that? dr. shuren: right now they can't. they don't. you don't have that oversight. we do have the authority.

it is time for us to exercise it. years ago when we set up the program, tests tended to be simple. they were used locally, where conditions. we said we would exercise enforcement discretion. subject requirements for not enforcing them. these tests are becoming increasingly more complex. they are being used nationally. they are more importantly being relied on for health care decisions. we're seeing bad tests out there , and why you move over to regulate them. this has come up since the 1990's. we had the nih back then saying we need to get involved. the institute of medicine came out in the 2000s to say that. we have been trying to move forward. we paid out a guidance to say we will start regulating a subset. we heard don't pick away at this. put out an arbor arching

framework, and phase and implementation. we held a meeting. we got the input. the guidance we proposed last year was our attempt to do that. tried to balance innovation with patient safety, and phase it in overtime. we are addressing comments. we are working with the community on what that policy should be. senator murray: you are engaging groups as you work through that? dr. shuren: yes. the american cancer society has seen test where they are incorrect. patients are being diagnosed with cancer when they don't have it. people who have cancer being told they don't have cancer. we need better oversight. we need to make sure we have accurate test in the test do what they claim to do. senator murray: one more question. dr. collins, why is one million the right number? dr. collins: it is a great question.

there is nothing magic about one million except it is a nice round number we could aim for. i will admit that i would love if we could go beyond that. a minutes ago this is all about numbers. that is where you get the power of the analysis to find out what works. a million is ambitious. it seemed like a goal to set for ourselves to achieve. given the fact that we already know there are cohorts out there which collectively have enrolled more than one million people, if we can figure out how to do this maybe we will do better. senator murray: listening to the members you have been talking about everyone of our states has developed a database. i don't how you are going to work through all of this. diversity, making sure we represent everybody is important. i'm going to look forward to how you do that. dr. collins: totally agree with

that. i don't think we would have the representation we need of the country. senator murray: thank you. >> on your following up, this was the high risk, low risk difference you were talking about in these laboratory tests. dr. collins: it was on -- dr. shuren: it was on mobile technologies. here we try to put a focus when we implement this, as we phase that in. >> is it all prior approval? in other words, to let the marketplace run for a while and

police it in effect? dr. shuren: we would not enforce requirements on them other than tell us what you are and if there are problems reported. he would not require tests for rare disorders. an unmet needs as well. senator alexander: this is kind of like going back to college. it is very interesting. we are privileged to be students in a classroom with such distinguished teachers and witnesses on an important subject. one that the president, the house of representatives, and this committee are committed to work on. it is my hope and senator murray that i will work out how we will do this. it is my hope that we can finish our work on our innovation initiative this year, and report

it to the full and it next year so it can be acted on. some schedule like that. we have some other things we have to do as well. the precision medicine proposal would be incorporated in that. we didn't talk about privacy today. who is going to figure that out? dr. collins: very important question. the white house, they have been engaged in this. we will have a deep conversation july 1 and second with the participants workshop coming forward at that point. senator alexander: one million participants or more, and you use their data. you have to figure out one way to protect that. dr. collins: we are deeply serious about doing that. in the most high tech,

thoughtful, capable way. with a fair amount of experience to build on. we have to take that with great seriousness. senator alexander: you heard our interest in helping you figure out what the steps are to actually improve the electronic medical record system, to see some real resorts -- results. it is a lot of work to do. we are not trying to catch anybody here. we are trying to fix a problem. we would like to work with you to do that, to do it soon. it effects many physicians, many hospitals. as we have heard today, it is essential to precision medicine initiative. there is no other -- i have a final page i am supposed to read.

the hearing record will remain open for 10 days. members may submit additional information for the record if they would like. i would like to think senator murray for the way she has helped us do this in a bipartisan way. the next help hearing will be on higher education. many will stand adjourned. -- the committee will stand adjourned. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015]

[no audio] [inaudible]

>> a handy guide to the 114th congress with color photos of every senator and house member plus bio and contact information, twitter handles and district maps. a foldout of capitol hill and congressional committees. order your copy today. it is $13.95 through the c-span online store. >> here are the book festivals we will be covering this spring on book tv. he will visit maryland for live coverage of the gaithersburg book festival. and david axelrod. we will close out at book expo america in new york city. the upcoming books showcase.

we are life for the chicago tribune printers row lit fest. and your phone calls, this spring on c-span 2 book tv. >> coming up later today more from campaign 2016 with remarks from hillary clinton. she will be in las vegas and will speak to rancho high school students about immigration policy. you can see that at 5:45 p.m. eastern. another hopeful joined the ranks of the republican hopefuls. my cook be. he announces candidates the. the event ran just over one hour.

>> [singing] ♪ >> [singing] ♪

♪

>> hello, everybody! hello! i come off the plane and what is the first thing i hear and it didn't stop all the way to the theater? i like mike. >> [cheering] [applause] >> i like -- >> [chanting] we like mike! >> i tell you what, i come to the city for the first time and have known mike for many, many years. i can see why he is so trustworthy and kind and such a wonderful, honest and.

-- man. it is like that throughout this whole city. >> [cheering] [applause] >> on behalf of the governor and mrs. huckabee, i am happy to welcome you all here today. i am honored to be here and honored to welcome you all. i am glad to see so many of arkansas' elected leaders. thank you for all being here ladies and gentlemen. let's begin today by asking a former pastor and a former college roommate of our good governor, our good friend, i cut -- mike huckabee. mr. rick -- rick? old college roommate, huh? >> [applause] >> all right, let's pray together. the heavenly father, we pause on such a an exciting day. we thank you for your love forgiveness, your abundant blessing on each one of us as individuals and also as a nation. we pray for the health and the

future of our nation. we pray especially for mike huckabee. we thank you for his life, a life lived and filled with character, conviction, courage. we thank you for his love, his love for you, his love for his family, his love for his country. we thank you for his leadership and his willingness to come forward at a time when our nation so desperately needs a man like him. lord, we thank you for the excitement and the hope that today's announcement brings. we are so grateful for the work that you have done in the life of mike huckabee to prepare him for such a time as this. so, load, we ask you to keep your hand on him, leave him, strengthen him. we pray this in your holy and mighty name. amen. >> [applause] >> if you will, please.

>> thank you, rick. beautiful. ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the presentation of our nation's flag and remain standing. ladies and gentlemen, please remain standing as we begin. forward, march! >> [drums playing] ♪ >> forward, halt.

>> guard. in position. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united dates of america. and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

♪ >> ♪ oh, say, can you see? by the dawn's early light >> ♪ whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight o'r the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming

>> ♪ and the rockets red glare the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there oh say that star-spangled banner yet wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ ♪

>> [cheering] [applause] >> aren't they amazing, ladies and gentlemen? that was beautiful. [applause] i will would like to share the story with you. before i think this next song, a song i wrote five years ago for governor huckabee. this is the first time i have ever had the opportunity to sing it. when he asked me to come and honored me with this moment, i felt this was the right time he wanted me to sing the song to you. now, we are in a beautiful hometown of his called hope. so in a town called hope, we are a nation of needed continued hope. and i believe this man, who is the most trusted man i have ever met in my life, can bring that hope to america. >> [applause]

>> you can hit it. it is called "america is my hometown." >> [piano] >> written by myself and michael cromarty. ♪ >> ♪ from the cornfield in the valleys to the towns in the sky america is my hometown

mothers and daughters with fathers and son with sisters and brothers we are a family of one from the arizona desert to the appalachian high america is my hometown when i look around at the bravest ones that keep our freedoms sound as i hear the voice of the people paying tribute to our fallen ones yes our daughters and sons america is my hometown

♪ from new york city to east l.a. people people hear when i say when i look across this great divide america is our hometown when i look around the bravest ones that keep our freedoms sound and i hear the voice of all the people paying tribute to our fallen ones our daughters and sons

rugged mountains, deep blue seas it's a land of brothers if the land of liberty from the cornfield in the valley to the towers it of the sky america is your home down hometown america is our hometown oh, america is my hometown ♪ ♪ >> [applause] [cheering] >> thank you, ladies and gentlemen. god bless you and god bless mike huckabee. and god bless america. >> [applause]

♪ ♪ you were raised on an asphalt farm ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the 46 governor of the state of arkansas, governor asa hutchinson. >> [applause] [cheering] ♪ [cheering] [applause] governor hutchinson: thank you. ladies and gentlemen, this is an extraordinarily exciting day for hope. [applause] it is a great day for arkansas. [applause] and it is an important they for

our nation. [applause] [cheering] i am delighted to be here just as you are pleased to be here to show our support to mike and janet huckabee. [applause] [cheering] 23 years ago, mike huckabee drove up from texarkana to my office, when i was chairman of the party, and he said, asa, i want to get involved in politics. i want to run for office. i didn't tell him, but i thought, you don't know what you are getting into. [laughter] and i thought mike huckabee go from a candidate to a leader to governor to a great national spokesperson on the national stage. i have been governor of arkansas for a little over 100 days, and

during that time, i have had the privilege of governing with the majority republicans in the legislature and republicans holding offices. [applause] [cheering] and that has been wonderful for me, but let me tell you, even with a republican majority and republican governor, being governor is still a tough job. and i think back to when my -- mike huckabee was governor of the state for 10 years as a republican leader with the democratic legislature when arkansas was as blue as any state in the nation. those were tough times. and mike huckabee came into office, happy to govern in a bipartisan way and lead our state in troubling times. he led our state with

conviction, he led our state with conservative values, he lowered taxes, he balanced our budget for 10 years, he reformed education, he preserved our hunting and outdoor culture here in this rate. -- this state. he has led the state and done a great job as a leader of arkansas. [applause] and he did that, again, whenever he had to reach out to the other side and say, join me in this effort. that is the type of leadership that we need on the national stage. [applause] [cheering] "time" magazine called him one of the best governors in america. and they were right about that. and he took his -- [applause] he took his leadership skills to the national level, and we, in arkansas, have been proud of the

way he has represented us, he has represented our values, and he has pointed the right direction for our country. [applause] every step of the way, he has been a company by home we have -- he has been accompanied by whom we have known as the wonderful first lady, janet huckabee. [applause] and today, we all think about the direction of our country and we have troublesome times ahead for our nation. we need a leader of our country who is steady on their feet, study with their convictions has a vision for america with good, conservative values, and who is a proven leader. mike huckabee has every one of those qualities and will make a great resident of the united states -- president of the united states. [applause] [cheering]

our country needs the leadership of mike huckabee, and with janet by his side, mike and janet, we are here today to tell you that arkansas is on your side. thank you very much. [cheering] [applause] >> ♪ >> i have now. but after our first year of marriage, i started experiencing some back pain. you don't like to hear the word cancer. any certainly don't like to hear the word malignant. i think mike really was the hero in all of it because he would get up early in the morning, acne into the car. -- pack me into the car. and then bring me back home, and the in class that morning. plus hold a job down.

if he should have left me, he should have done it right then. and he chose to stick it out. so, he made a promise to me, for better or worse, in sickness or in health. he had to live up to that promise right then in our first couple years of marriage. i don't know how you can go through anything like that and not get stronger. the one thing i did learn about mike is his leadership qualities. he had the capacity to take any situation, look at it, and it's the how each decision he could make further down the road could affect this day and the people. our speed inherited 75,000 people -- state inherited 75,000 people in just a few days. mike instantly said i wanted all my faith leaders to come forward, any denomination that

had a camp, for instance, would already have beds, playgrounds cafeterias. he said, i need you to open up. every camp became another little town. they loved him. they took them in. so much so that people didn't want to leave. people first, paperwork later. ♪ one of the important parts of really running for any office, but primarily running for president, is that you are willing to give up something in order to do it because it is not an easy task. but i am always reminded of the song that said, may all who come behind us find us faithful. i hope that even those headlines that my children, my grandchildren will see, that they will see that we were faithful.

not just what we were given as governor and first lady, as mom and dad, or as a grandmother and grandfather, but that we were faithful and running our campaign, that we did it, you know, to the best of our abilities, but did it with good character and nothing to be ashamed about. and to be proud of what we did. ♪ >> [applause]

[cheering] [applause] janet huckabee: you do know i am not the main event, don't you? [laughter] thank you so much. imagine yourself at a dinner and your dinner guests were george washington, john adams, benjamin franklin, and thomas jefferson. and you had 30 minutes to defend america. what would you say? would you be able to defend america? would you say that america is great? would you say the economy is soaring? would you say our value system is solid? or would you say that the constitution is being trampled? there is fighting in the streets, congress is doing nothing. the unborn is not protected. and there is no leadership in

this nation. [applause] [cheering] where is the passion that those forefathers had? when they left the country to come and start america. do we have passions the today that they had? is there anything that we would die for that our men and women by today for everyday when they go fight? do we still have that passion? america is a great story, but i think it can be greater. mike and i started our story right here in hope, arkansas. i moved here when i was one and a half. my mom had five kids. in seven years. they are all here today. i am very grateful.

[applause] perhaps she needed cable tv, i don't know, but she had five kids in seven years. [laughter] unfortunately, she had the raise those kids without government assistance i herself. but mike and i were educated here in hope, arkansas. and on generally 29, 1973, i had my first date. he had to wait for my basketball game to get finished. [laughter] and he had to wait for me to clean up and shower. and, unfortunately, all of the restaurants and hope, arkansas -- in hope, arkansas were closed. and we had to travel to fulton arkansas, which is much smaller, to a 24-hour truckstop. [laughter] i might add, it was very quiet and romantic. [laughter] but it was perfect for me. and that following year, we got married.

as you saw in the video, that was 41 years ago. but i'm going for the gold. [applause] [cheering] because in nine years, that could be 50. i am not too far off. with my history of cancer, i thought it wouldn't make it to 20, so i really excited now that i make -- i might make a 50 year anniversary. [applause] you see, we have lived the american dream. and everybody ought to have that opportunity. but with that battle of cancer and later when we were hardly -- may not have children, i found out right away i was pregnant with our first son. and mike and i decided right away that i was going to be a stay-at-home mom. [indiscernible]

it's hard. he had to sell those guitars. and he made a sacrifice for us. and we had a washer and dryer. see, that is what you do when you don't have everything you want right away. you have to make sacrifices. and if you don't have the money to do it, you find a way to do it. and you do what you have to do to take care of your family.

i have three wonderful children. soon to have five grandchildren that i'm very proud of. he took care of the people. that is why time magazine named him one of the best governors in america. [applause] america is a great country. we continue to make it greater. what story are we going to tell? that we gave up? or that we fought with great passion like our forefathers did? that is important. that is the story we have to tell. our president promised americans hope. our next president should give every american and take them

from hope to higher ground. thank you and god bless. [applause] i love you. ♪ >> governor huckabee's door was nailed shut. bill clinton's arkansas. he had huge majorities, all the

apparatus of the democratic party aligned against my cup of the. this public and comes out of nowhere and wins. every day of my life and politics was a fight. sometimes it was an intense one. any redneck can start a fight. a leader only starts a fight he is prepared to finish. as governor as arkansas i cut taxes, and raised in family income by 50%. we empower people to live a better life. i'm not a republican because i grew up rich. i'm a republican because i didn't want to spend the rest of my life poor waiting for the government to rescue me. >> one thing that has to happen in america is moving the power away from washington where people are so disconnected from the way

power needs to be local and limited. the closer government is to people, the more accountable it is to the people that govern. instead of minimum wage, i'm going to focus on solutions or every american to earn his or her maximum wage. i will protect social security and medicare. washington has done enough lighting and stealing. i will never roib seniors of what they have been promised. we need moral clarity in a dangerous world. there is a difference between right and wrong, good and evil. i will keep all of the options on the table in order to defeat the evil forces of radical islam. we believe in things, we stand by the things, we live or die by those things. let us win the fight for what matters most. [applause]

[country music] announcer: ladies and gentlemen, please welcome native son of arkansas, governor mike huckabee. [applause] ♪ [applause] mike huckabee: thank you. thank you. [chanting] mike huckabee: thank you very

much. wow. folks, it is a long way from a little brick rent house on a 2nd street in hope arkansas to the white house. [applause] but here in this small town called hope, i was raised to believe that where a person started didn't mean that is where he had to stop. [applause] i always leave that i kid them go from hope -- can go from hope to higher ground. and like a lot of americans i grew up in a small town that was far removed from the power money, and influence that runs this country. the power, money, and political influence had left a lot of americans lagging behind. they work hard, they lift heavy things, and things went through the closed -- and they sweat through their clothes, but they

can't seem to get ahead or stay even. my parents were like that. my dad was not an educated man but he was a smart man. they did not have a whole lot but they had amish roots to the bone. we were told to do unto others as we would have others do unto us. [applause] it with your in -- it was here in hope that i learned to read, to write a bike, to swim, and to play fair. i learned the difference between right and wrong, and i learned that god loves me as much as anyone but that he doesn't love me more than others. [applause] mike huckabee: i learned about america. in this kindergarten, as well as elementary school, i learned the

pledge of allegiance, the lord's prayer and the preamble of the constitution. [applause] mike huckabee: we pray at the start of each day, and we prayed again for lunch. i learned that this exceptional country could only be explained by the providence of almighty god. [applause] mike huckabee: it was here in hope that i learned how to handle a firearm and a fishing pole. i spent a lot of hours with both. i got my first bb gun at age five. it was a daisy model 25. i still have it. it is in mint condition. i learned the basic rules of gun safety, and i never thought about using a firearm to murder someone. [applause] mike huckabee: iran squad lines -- i ran squad lines all night so that we could catch catfish

that we would freeze and live off of four weeks. -- off of for weeks. it was here that i was baptized in the garret memorial baptist church when i was just 10 years old. [applause] mike huckabee: i truly went from hope to higher ground. it was here that i met the girl that would become my wife of 40 years and give me three children and share what will soon be five grandchildren. [applause] mike huckabee: we knew each other from elementary school, and we started dating our senior year of high school. it was also here that i got a job at kxir radio at age 14. [applause] mike huckabee: that the job would not only pay my way through school, but also give me an opportunity to be mentors by

the station manager and one of the few republicans in the entire county. [laughter] mike huckabee: it with your that i became the first male in my entire family lineage to graduate from high school at the very same canvas that stands today on main street. -- campus that stands on main street. and it was here that i went to washita baptist university. i also ran for first student office at hope junior high school. [applause] mike huckabee: it seems perfectly fitting that it would be here that i announce that i and a candidate for president of the united states of america. [applause] [cheers]

[audience chanting] mike huckabee: thank you. i am glad you reacted that way. it would have been a very lonely day should you have been quiet. [applause] mike huckabee: it was eight years ago that i young untested, inexperienced, and virtually unknown freshman a senator made great speeches about and changed. but eight years later, are get more than doubled, -- our debts more than doubled, our leadership has completely evaporated in the country is more polarized than ever in my lifetime. 93 million americans don't have

jobs and many of them who do have seen their full-time job with benefits they once had become two part-time job with no benefits at all. we were promised hope, but it was just talk. and now we need the kind of change that really could get america some hope to higher ground. [applause] mike huckabee: veterans who kept their promise to america, who have kept us free, now wait a month -- wait for months for our countries promise for basic health care for the scars from the very worst that we sent them to fight. [applause] -- the very wars. our veterans should be getting the first serving from our

treasury, not the leftovers. my friends, when i am president our veterans are not going to be left on the streets and waiting rooms to rot, but they will be treated with the dignity they have earned and deserve. [applause] mike huckabee: when i meet men who have an american legion cap or one that says "veteran" i never try and fail to say thank you for giving me my freedom. for we of them more than a pat on the back. we need to take them from hope to higher ground. [applause] washington is more dysfunctional than ever, and he does become so bold to the donor class who has

filled the campaign coffers that it ignores the fact that 1 in 4 american families are paying more than half of their income just for housing. home ownership has the lowest level in decades. a lot of young people with heavy students debt are likely to afford their first home for a long while. our federal policies affordable housing aren't designed to protect families, but rather to protect eurocrats. -- protect bureaucrats. we have a record number of people enrolled in government programs like food stamps, and it is not because people want to be in poverty. it is because they are part of the bottom 90% of workers in this country whose wages have been stagnant for the past two years. -- past 40 years. [applause] mike huckabee: the war on poverty hasn't ended poverty, it has prolonged it. i have judged success on how

many people are in government assistance because of the success of government. i judge how many people have a good jobs and don't need government assistance. [applause] mike huckabee: and we don't create good jobs for american by entering into unbalanced trade deals that forgo national scrutiny -- forgo congressional scrutiny and then look over the loss of that we can import low-wage labor undercuts american workers, and driver wages lower than the dead sea. that is unacceptable. [applause] mike huckabee: as the governor mentioned a moment ago, i covered in a state that was the most lopsided and partisan in the country. know republican -- no republican governor had fewer democrats. i challenge the politically entrenched machine that ran this state. it was tough slag, but i learned

how to govern, and i learned how to lead. even in that environment, we passed 94 tax cuts, rebuilt our road system, saw dramatic improvement in student text scores and fought so that working-class people should be given a fair shake. [applause] mike huckabee: we saw family income increased by 50% during my tenure. there are some who propose that to save the safety nets like medicare and security, we ought to chop off the payments for the people who safely have their paychecks waiting for them when they are old and sick. my friend, you are forced to pay for social security and medicare for 50 years. the government grabs the money from our paychecks and says it

will be waiting for us when we turn 65. it covers once he takes away -- if congress wants to take away someone's retirement, lets them take -- let them take their own congressional pensions not your social security. [applause] mike huckabee: as president, i promise you will get what you pay for. because how can anyone ever trust government again, if they steal from us and lie to us? it didn't help when congress took $700 billion out of medicare to pay for obamacare. and instead of helping families find affordable health care, we created a monster that forces us to buy coverage that we don't want, don't need, and can't afford. [applause] mike huckabee: and imagine members of congress boasting

they will fight to repeal obamacare, and then turning around and signing up for it. real health care reform is going to focus on prevention and tours rather than costly intervention. -- prevention and cures. because hope comes from writing cures for cancer, diabetes, alzheimer's, the same way that we once lined up at the courthouse in the that th1950s and took our vaccines to eradicate polio. real cures can give hope to families who hear a dreaded diagnosis and are sentenced to a slow and agonizing death. alzheimer's disease alone cost well over $1 trillion by the year 2050. focusing on cures instead of treatments saves money lives and families. i would never president kennedy telling us -- i remember president kennedy telling us that we would send a man to the moon and bring him home in a

decade. president kennedy did not live to see that come true, but i did. and it made me believe that america could do anything it set its mind to. [applause] mike huckabee: and as president as president i would launch a curative approach to health care, saving money and lives not just a bunch of government programs. [applause] mike huckabee: we face real threats from radical jihadist in the form of groups like isis an estate terrorists liie irke iran. -- on state terrorist like iran. but we put more pressure on israel to building bedrooms for their families in judea then we put on iran for building a bomb. dealing with radicals who chant "death to america" and funded

rockets to murder civilians in israel is nonsense. when i hear my president say he wants christians to get off their high horse so that we can make nice with radical jihadists, i wonder. [booing] mike huckabee: i wonder if you could watch a western from the 50's and figure out who the good guys and bad guys really are. [applause] mike huckabee: as president, i promise you that we will no longer merely try to contain jihad is him -- jihadism, we will conquer it. [cheering] mike huckabee: we will deal with jihadis just the way we would

deal with deadly snakes. had let there be no doubt israel will know, as will be whole world, that we are their trusted friend and the ayatollahs of iran will now know that hell will freeze over before they get a nuclear weapon. [cheering] [applause] mike huckabee: and i commit this to you today -- i will never apologize for america, ever. [applause] mike huckabee: we face not only be threats from terrorism but also the threat of new kinds of dangers. from eight cyber war that could shut down major financial markets, to threats of

electromagnetic pulse from eight exploded -- from an exploded device that could fry the electrical grid and take this country back to the stone age in a matter of minutes. waiting until it happens is too late. but we have lost our way morally. we have witnessed the slaughter of over 55 million babies in the name of choice, and we are now threatening the foundation of religious liberty by criminalizing christianity and arguing that we should abandon biblical pencils of -- of legal principles of traditional marriage. [applause] mike huckabee: many of our politicians have surrendered to the false god of judicial supremacy, which would allow unofficial judges to make laws as well as enforce it, offending our -- upending the balance of

powers so essential to the constitution. to supreme court is not the supreme being. -- the supreme court. and they cannot overturn the laws of nature or of nature's god. [applause] mike huckabee: government in washington is dysfunctional because it has become the roach motel. people come in, but they never come out. [applause] mike huckabee: as president i will fight for term limits on all three branches of government. that would help return us to the founders dream serving the public should be a temporary duty, not a lucrative career with the generous engines and paychecks -- generous gems and paychecks -- generous pensions and packchecks. if someone is elected to an office then give the taxpayers what they are paying for and the

job that you said you wanted. if you live off the government payroll and want to run for office of the one you have been elected to, then at least have the integrity and decency to resign one that you don't want anymore and pursue the one you with rather have. [applause] as president, i would take seriously the 10th amended. i would actually abide by it. this power is never intended to be so concentrated at the federal level. our constitution is explicitly clear about keeping the federal government small so that it will be able to focus on simple things like providing a military and securing our borders. here are things being done at the federal level that should be done at the state, were better, the families. -- or better, the families.

why even have a federal department of education -- of education? it flunked, and it needs to be expelled. [applause] mike huckabee: education policy ought to be set by state, local school boards, and best of all by the moms and dads of the children. [applause] mike huckabee: and common sense tells us the best government is the most local and most limited. we supersized the federal bureaucracy, but we haven't downsized the military and left our borders opened an uncontrolled. yes, we need to address the immigration issues, but not with amnesty. we need to start taking control of our own borders. [applause] mike huckabee: but as americans

we ought to get on our knees every night and thinkank god we live in a country that people want to break into rather than breaking out of. [applause] mike huckabee: i am running for president because i know there's a difference between making a speech and making government accountable to the people who have to pay for it. you can't spend money you don't have. you can't borrow money you can't afford to pay back. any federal government ought to live by the rules that you have to live by. and they should function other a balance -- function under a balanced budget, just like every year i was a governor. [applause]

mike huckabee: i don't want to your politicians talk about tinkering with the tax codes making adjustments that still let powerful washington bureaucrats winners and losers. we can never create prosperity for american people, never grow our economy out of the bottomless pit of death, never bring america back to the greatest economy on earth if we continue to punish productively and subsidize reckless irresponsibility. [applause] there was a man i met at a machine shop in new hampshire. he told me that he started working a double shift to help his daughter work for grab school. he figured that if he worked 16 hours rather than eight, he would bring home twice the pay. but he found out that the money he worked for on that second shift put any new tax bracket and the government got more of it than he did.

it is not that our tax system is punishing the richest people in america, they can afford accountants and lawyers who find a way to protect them. it is the people working for wages who can't get ahead if the government penalizes them for trying to do better. [applause] mike huckabee: as president, i will work to pass the fair tax which would no longer penalize people's work. [applause] mike huckabee: we wouldn't penalize people's work or investments or good stewardship. a big government bailout and most importantly, we would finally rid ourselves of the biggest bully in america -- the

irs. [cheering] the irs would disappear and april 15 would just be another beautiful spring day. the struggle for many families isn't helpful make government solution is fighting what the minimum wage ought to be. a race to the bottom. we need to be promoting the maximum wage, with a worker availing himself to a job that pays the maximum amount. only by empowering those to

reach their maximum wage can we take people from hope to higher ground. [applause] this country has got three things to stay free. feed itself and fight for itself. we have got to keep our farmers from being regulated out of business. we have enough energy resources under our own feet. if you could bring affordable energy to america become the largest exporter so that americans prosper in developing the energy, and we aren't impoverished anymore by paying for it when it is reduced by some saudi sheik or some russian robber baron. [applause] mike huckabee: and we need to be able to fight for ourselves by

bringing manufacturing to our own communities. the journey that begins in hope today can lead this nation to higher ground. but i cannot do it without people being my partners. people who were never involved in politics until now. i will let you in on a little secret. i have never had been and will never be the favorite candidate of those in the washington to wall street corridor of power. [applause] mike huckabee: i will be funded and fueled not by the billionaires but by working people across america, that will find out that $15 and $20 a month contributions can take us from hope to higher ground. [applause] mike huckabee: rest assured if

you want to get a million dollars, please do it. [laughter] but i know most of you can't. i'm just going to ask you to give something. in the name of your children and grandchildren. i walked away from i own income to do this, so i am not asking for some sacrifice i am unwilling to make. i don't have a global foundation or a taxpayer-funded paycheck to live off of. i don't come from a family dynasty, but a working family. i grew up blue-collar not blue blood. i ask you to join with me today not just so i can be president but so we can preserve this great republic and some so that your children and grandchildren can still go from hope to higher ground. [applause]

mike huckabee: i still remember when my dad took me to the dedication of the newly comes drafted -- newly constructed ark, name for my best friend lester who is here today. i was eight years old, and my dad said, son governors don't come dedicate this to the lake. i will take you down there to hear him talk. because you may live your whole life, and you may never get meet a governor in person. [laughter] [applause] mike huckabee: had my dad lived just four months longer, he would have seen me do more than meet a governor, he would have

seen me become the 44th governor of my state. i always wished he could have in their -- been there, maybe spent one night in the governor's mansion, a place he never that he would get close to, but i always feel he did see that moment from the rest seat in the house. -- best seat in the house. [laughter] -- [applause] and i hope he is able to watch in january 2017 when that -- for little kid from the orange brick rent house is sworn in as the 40 foot president of the united states, and with your help and god, we will make that journey

from hope to higher ground. god bless you. thank you very much. thank you. [applause]

>> just before mike huckabee announced his presidential campaign this morning, a new tv ad was announced criticizing the warmer governors record on -- the former governor's record on taxes. here is that tv ad. >> why do conservatives oppose mike huckabee? >> americans for tax reform, another conservative group, said state spending increased by 65% during her years as governor. >> the wall street journal claims you finished your term as governor of arkansas with a net tax increase of $505 million. >> tax increases did go up during your term as governor in arkansas.

>> a conservative think tank analyzed your performance. you received an f for your current term and d for the entire tenure. >> democratic residential candidate hillary clinton is in las vegas today where she visits rancho high school to discuss immigration policy. that is scheduled to begin at 5:45 p.m. eastern. when it starts, you can see it live right here on c-span. while we wait, a discussion from this morning's "washington journal" about the 2016 presidential race. it is only tuesday but has already been a busy week when it comes to campaign 2016 and the road to the white house. we're joined by shane goldmacher and linda feldman who covers the

white house. of the three republican candidates who joined the race this week or will join when my cut of the makes his announcement, -- when my cut of the -- mike huckabee makes his announcement -- who will have the biggest impact? 8 they all bring something to the table. the battle with hillary clinton is joined in that fashion and she can strike at hillary in a way the other republican candidates cannot. carson is the only other african-american and mike huckabee is an old face. the question is whether he can capture that evangelical vote and do really well.

host: who of the three fiorina carsons and huckabee are the other candidates most afraid of? caller: i think there isn't a question that huckabee poses the biggest threat. he is the only of the three who has won states. he won and the south and iowa. he followed bill clinton into office. he can win the evangelical voters which are really important in iowa and south carolina. four people who are fresher faces going after the same voters, ted cruz and mike huckabee are very much a threat to take a wait the first early states -- take away the first early states. host: mike huckabee announcing today. we will show that announcement life on c-span at 11:00 a.m.

he will make that announcement from hope, arkansas and rollout into a weeklong iowa and south carolina trip. all of the candidates making their appearances in the early primary states. talk about ben carson. who does he take the most votes away from? caller:guest: he is very popular with young voters. at cpac he was one of the more popular candidates. this is a big deal for the republicans, attracting younger voters. he is important for them. he is somebody who burst onto the scene two years ago at the prayer breakfast and really caught everybody by surprise when he went after obama sitting a few feet away from him. he showed a willingness to go after the president had on.

-- head on. even though the president isn't on the ballot, his former secretary of state will be. he knows how to get attention. he is very articulate and revered as a world-renowned neurosurgeon. all of these questions about whether his lack of political experience will hurt him, but i think, one question is whether people are looking for a fresh face. he is certainly one of them. host: those two announcements coming this week already. mike huckabee expected to announce. you have been writing a lot about jed bush. one of the things you wrote about is he was out early and flex his financial muscles. he was trying to raise money to scare others out of the race. has anybody been scared out of the race? guest: it doesn't look like it.

a couple weeks ago there were 19 people giving speeches about running for president. he is raising a lot of money. he will top $100 million in his first few months, but more are getting in the race and more are considering it. one who is considering and is not scared by jed bush is the governor of ohio. if jed bush was scaring people, he would not be getting into the race or considering it. he knows how much bush money can scare you out of the presidential race because he was scared out of the race by george w but he is looking at running this year. guest: i would argue that mitt romney was scared out of the race by jed bush. two establishment titans owing against each other and romney looked at the reality and decided he could not make it work. host: we are talking about the 20 sixteen rd to the white

house. the lines are open -- 2016 road to the white house. democrats call (202) 748-8000 republicans (202) 748-8001 and independents (202) 748-8002. we're the next 45 or 50 minutes to talk about this topic. as we said yesterday, ben carson made it official. he talked about his announcement sunday night but at his event in detroit he made his presidential campaign official. here is a bit of ben carson's speech from the event. [video clip] >> that is what we have to start doing. opening our mouths for the values and principles of america. [applause]

i have to tell you something. i am not politically correct. [cheers] [applause] i am probably never going to be politically correct, because i am not a politician. i don't want to be a politician. politicians do what is politically expedient. i want to do what is right. host: i am not a politician. will we be hearing this refrain a lot? guest: absolutely. there are so many real politicians running including hillary clinton who is as political as they get. they are all political. all of these non-politicians who run for president are instantly politicians.

you have to look at it from a meta-perspective. here is ben carson's saying i am not politically correct. that is a political message. he is saying i will hear things -- say things you do not normally hear from someone like me. the reality is, it is extremely difficult for them to win. carly fiorina is another non-politician in the race. she was working on the mccain campaign as a surrogate spokeswoman and said something she shouldn't, she would veer off message and was taken off tv. it is great to be a nonpolitician, the public likes that, but the reality is that they make mistakes. if you have never run for anything, she actually ran for senate in california and does have that experience. but has never held elective office. it is extremely difficult to pull that off. the last time we elected a nonpolitician was dwight allen

-- dwight eisenhower. he was the supreme allied commander for world war ii. that gives him a pass. host: "the washington post," writes enter the nonpoliticians. a grand tradition of thinking they can do politics better. it is easy to disparage public servants, much harder to reshape the forces pushing them away from solutions and harder still to fashion compromise without abandoning principle. ms. furia and mr. carson's are politicians on the national stage. shane, your thoughts on the un-politician versus the politicians already in republican primaries. some members of the united states senate and former governors as well. guest: one of the questions you asked earlier is who takes votes from whom? it is really interesting that ben carson and carly fiorina got

into the race on the same day. there was kind of an gentleman's agreement not to step on each other's announcements. they were spaced out one week apart between rand paul and marco rubio -- these two got in on the same day. one of the reasons is they are competing with each other. everybody else in this field has held elected office. if they are not part of washington they are part of the establishment in some fashion. even if your ted cruz and are antiestablishment or rand paul wanting to defeat the washington machine, you are part of it. these to him are competing for that vote. there is a long tradition of people getting into races and a longer tradition of them losing. host: shane goldmacher of "the washington caller: thanks for taking my call. caller:i think campaign finances

distorted the politics to where unless you are a corporation you're not going to get any representation. bernie sanders is probably the only credible candidate, and i don't think he is going to get elected because of money. if they didn't have money pushing against it, they could get immigration reform and make it work. you can make it if l.a. to hire an undocumented worker. you can send the criminals back to mexico and legalize the people that are here and paying taxes. it you wouldn't have the problems in the hospitals that you've got by the border states. it's a mess down there. host: there are several topics.

start with bernie sanders. guest: his entry into the race makes the democratic nomination battle more interesting. hillary clinton is way ahead and the chances are high she gets the nomination. his voice will be elevated in the debate about the democratic party. it the progressive wing of the party was wanting elizabeth warren to get in. and away, he is a surrogate for elizabeth warren. he has been an independent for decade and has succeeded politically in that way. he is a very rare bird in washington. he and hillary differ on health care, he once single-payer. she wants to make obamacare better. on trade, huge split in the

party. hillary clinton as secretary of state was instrumental in the asia-pacific trade deal that the president wants and some democrats are against it. the unions don't like it and bernie sanders is dead set against it. i also want to respond to the collar on the question of money. it's true that he is not going to raise the money hillary will, i don't think that ceiling reason he can't get the nomination. the reality is that when of the party is not big enough. host: the wall street journal and pollsters all of the country are making the general election comparison between hillary clinton and potential republican candidates. it's not like they are matching bernie sanders up with any of these potential republicans. this is the latest poll.

hillary clinton against jeb bush, she leads him 49-43. the closest is rand paul. fossum is pulling numbers? -- pulling numbers? guest: it doesn't mean she is going to stay there. an interesting argument rand paul makes is he says he is the guy that gets closest to her. he is trying to run as mr. electable. it's one of those interesting dynamics. he has been talking about expanding the republican party reaching out to young people minorities. in that poll, some of the other figures were about who could you potentially support. there is a lot of potential for marco rubio.

very few say that about chris christie and jeb bush. marco rubio is second place. look down the road to the next announcement. host: where is mitch daniels? who is next? guest: that's a good question. i don't know. do we have any actual dates? mitch daniels is not going to run it. i think he is the president of purdue university. guest: they have not picked dates. host:guest: i would not say this is a joke, these people are all running. they are raising as much money as they can before they officially announce and trigger

legal requirements. they are effectively candidates. host: do you think chris christie is going to be a candidate? guest: i think it was really bad for him. i don't know. these indictments this week, his people are spinning furiously that this was good news for him. it doesn't look like he was any -- in any legal jeopardy, but when your legal aides are indicted, the story has long legs. i don't see how he can mount anything close to a successful campaign. if he thinks otherwise. guest: they are talking about decamping to new hampshire and do town halls. chris christie has got a similar name. tell the truth town halls, this

is what he is trying to do in new hampshire. he is from the northeast. he has human skills. he can deal with people. that everybody has that. host: we have lots of talk about this morning. michael is up next on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: -- host: let's go to sand in kentucky. caller: good morning. i would like to hear the panel put their thoughts forward as far as why is there a difference in the media scrutiny requiring democratic versus republican candidates? hillary clinton was secretary of state and all of these deals done, bill clinton's speeches.

i don't see them going after hillary clinton much like they will go after governor christie from new jersey. why is that? why is there such a difference in how the media will go after the facts and the truth about these candidates? bernie sanders is a european socialist and nobody is talking about that. they don't really delve into what he supports and what he advocates. why is that? guest: i was going to say on the hillary discussion, she had a brutal month of media press. this book is coming out. it hits shelves today. nbc news followed bill clinton

to africa this week and spoke with him about the fundraising and the speeches. they got him to say he has to pay the bills. host: usa today, the lead editorial. guest: it is true that there is more action on the republican side, so there is more coverage of their field. there is nobody running for president getting more scrutiny right now than hillary clinton. guest: i agree. when you look at the headlines it's been the clintons on defense. host: it's not where they expect to start in may of the year before the election. erica is an michigan. caller: good morning. i have a comment about ben carson. the reason i would support him

is the fact that him being an outsider and something that the president of united states set about how we deal with cuba. we've been doing the same thing for 50 years and it doesn't work. let's make a change. we have had politicians running this country for the past 50 some years. the debt is increased. let's make a change. let's put a non-politician in who is going to fix the problem and be done with it. host: what are your thoughts on carly fiorina? caller: i can see them teaming up. if she can make it to michigan i would support her. that's the way i would look at it.

we are getting sick of these same old same old and nothing changes. i have seen detroit deteriorate to nothing and now all the rich people are coming in to build up the inner part of the city, but the average person can't get a job. it's being outsourced out of michigan. host: on the call for non-politicians to unite. guest: this is a common refrain in every cycle. people have this negative reaction to professional politicians. the reality is you are better at something when you have experience doing it. the reality is to be elected president, you have to be a politician. ben carson is now a politician. he does not have the experience

fielding questions and being caught off guard on things and the range of issues that you have to address. it's a real crucible. it's no bigger crucible than running for president. it sounds good to say we when outsider, the reality is it's nearly impossible. host: here is carly fiorina's announcement from yesterday. >> our founders never intended for us to have a professional political class. they believe that citizens and leaders needed to step forward. we know the only way to reimagine our government is to reimagine who is leading it. i'm carly fiorina and i am running for president. if you're tired of the soundbites, the vitriol, the ego, the corruption, if you believe that it's time to

declare the end of identity politics and you believe it's time to declare the end of lowered expectations, if you believe it's time for citizens to stand up to the political class and say enough, then join us. it's time for us to empower our citizens and give them a voice in government and come together to fix what has been broken about our politics and our government for too long. we can do this. together. host: your thoughts? guest: there is no question that she is bringing something to the field, her gender, business experience in she was the first woman to run a fortune 20 custom -- camping. it did not and will. she is a voice. one of the challenges is going to be how to manage this field

when it comes to the debates. they are low in polling. how my other people meet that threshold? that is a tough thing for the republicans to have to say. you are talking about 16 people on that stage. host: an african-american in the field, a female and two hispanics. are you surprised the diversity of the republican field? guest: the party is not all white men, there is diversity in the party. not as much as the democratic party, but it's important to have this diversity in the field. you can also add bobby jindal to the mix. i don't know when he is going to get in, but he is indian-american.

another point, i think in some circumstances, people like that run knowing in their heart of hearts that they are not going to win, but it positions them to be selected for the ticket and raises their national profile. it raises their speaking fees and gives them new life. they are retired from their original careers. host: carol, good morning. caller: good morning. regarding bernie sanders i am 82. i left wisconsin 40 years ago. i went from the frying pan into the fire because i moved to florida. they have a rotten governor, too. for the first time i contributed to the campaign it, bernie sanders.