this is growing to be a time of abundance. this will be a time where our children and grandchildren will have much more opportunity. if we fix how we tax, how we regulate, embrace the energy revolution, focus on the things that right now are broken through proper leadership if we fix these things young people particularly are going to have a time that it will be the greatest time to be alive in this world. we can grow far faster than we're growing today. we can create a more secure world. in doing so, in doing so, people of our generation, those, not young people here, but their parents and grandparents can fulfill what every generation has done since the beginning of the creation of this republic. we've always left things better for the next generation. can we honestly say today that is the case? we can't. but we can fix it. i honestly believe we can. with conservative principles applying limited government, asking people to act on their

hearts, to become a self-governing people again, this will be the most extraordinary time in america's history. i hope that you believe that. i hope that we shed the negativity that exists and that we offer a hopeful optimistic message to people who haven't heard it in a long, long while. the politics of grievance, the politics of angst, the politics of anger is important to fight against the overreach by the progressives. but frankly we're never going to win elections unless we inspire people to believe that the future will be bright by applying the timeless principles that we know to be true and effective. with your help, we can make that happen. i appreciate your activism, i appreciate all that you do. i humbly ask for your vote. thank you all very much. [applause]

>> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the president of the iowa faith and freedom coalition steve scheffler. steve scheffler: good morning. it is my deep honor and my deep pleasure to introduce a very good friend of mine. phyllis schlafly. for those of you who don't get her publication, the phillies schlafly report you need to get that. it is in the 46th year. it is in the 46th year. very educational tool. this is woman who is the mentor around the leader, the national leader of the conservative movement. when i was in high school which dates me a little bit, i read her book, a choice, not an echo. it profoundly changed my life. this is a woman who single-handedly handed us the pro-life plank in the national platform and every republican national convention when that

first succeeded, she has been at the for front protecting life. this is woman who came to iowa in 1980, in 1992, against all odds and fought the equal rights amendment. in fact in 1992, when she came to iowa, the polls showed that the era was going to pass as an amendment to the state constitution with over 80% of the vote. i told her, phyllis, i love you but you're wasting your time. and i still remember to this day that blank look she had on her face saying, or insinuating, saying, steve, yee of little faith. so here is a great woman. no other woman deserves more credit than today my great friend, phyllis schlafly. phyllis schlafly: thank you

very much, steve. and thank you for your friendship over the years. and how you have iade iowa a big player in the national political sweepstakes. it's great to be in this room. this is a room with a lot of sentimental memories for me. it was right here in this room at wthe celebrated the burial of the equal rights amendment in 1982. many -- [applause] i'm sure many of you were here. we had a thousand people that night. the feminists gave us a bomb scare. we all had to vacate while the dogs sniffed out the room. but anyway we survived. and we did, we were able to celebrate. a tremendous victory against all of the powers that be. and of all of the things we taught people by defeating the equal rights amendment was that conservatives can win.

they don't need to be defeated. and what we did was to fight the problem of three presidents, three first ladies, every member of congress except two, all the media, hollywood, hollywood came to springfield, illinois repeatedly to tell us we ought to pass the equal rghtsi amendment and all the money. yet we beat them all. it is a lesson for everybody that however down and out we may feel about the odds against us today, we can win and you are the people who can do it. and i thank you for being here today. and i thank ralph reed for putting this on and for the churchhill award he gave me last year when i couldn't make it. but at any rate, we have the opportunity to win again. and we need you to be acting in politics. it is, we all want you to pray for god's help but don't expect god to stuff the ballot box for us.

that's our job. go out and find the votes. [applause] and i urge you to be active in politics. yes, it is sometimes difficult but you're needed and you're needed there. and that is why i wrote a choice, not an echo. i hope you will get the new expanded view because the king-makers haven't given up. they're doing all kinds of things, shenanigans they did that wrote about in my first book, that described, what they did. in a choice, not an echo. i have a lot of new information what they have done in recent years and, as patrick henry said, i have no lamp to guide my feet but the lessons of history. i know of no way of judging the future but by the past. and so you need to know how the game is played. we need all of you to buy, try to be delegates to the next republican convention which will be in cleveland next year.

you need to be there. you need to cozy up to your republican friends in order to get yourself named a delegate. and, when we were trying to nominate barry goldwater, we not only had enough people to fill the room, and have the majority, but i personally know just dozens, hundreds of people who bought the ticket to go to san francisco for the convention just so they could sit in the gallery and watch their delegate and make sure he voted right. that is the kind of commitment we need, to make sure we're not stuck with another loser of a king-maker candidate. [applause] you know all those losers, they made us vote for -- [laughter]. but we have to pick someone who is real winner, who will grapple the issues and overturn what

obama has been doing to this country. and what is the other victories we've had was making the republican party pro-life. and you know, when i started out under nixon, the republican party was proabortion. and we made it pro-life. that was another struggle because our people were able to get themselves elected delegates to the republican convention. on the platform committee so that they could identify what the republican party is for. and so when the supreme court handed down row v. wade, a lot of people said that's it, that the supreme court has spoken, but a lot of us said no, that isn't it. that is the start of the fight not the end of the fight. and so we do need to do the same thing if a court make as terrible mistake on marriage. we want to make sure that the republican party stands for, for

traditional marriage as god prescribed it, not as some people want to change it today. so i think is the bottom line we can win on all these issues if you will engage in politics. a lot of people in this room do a lot of good things in many ways and i'm sure you're all praying for the right goal but to be involved with politics what we've done with eagle forum, i urge you to be part of the game so we can make sure that we get a non-king-maker candidate for presidential nomination. we need everybody now. we don't need just a few people. we need all of you to be active so that you're backing up the right candidate and again, the choice, not an echo, tells you the gameplan of how "the kingmakers" have been giving us the wrong candidates all these years.

and i remember one of our biggest fights was in 19, was the year, the convention was in san diego and that was the year when we had to fight bob dole's effort to change the party platform to say we are tolerant. we didn't want to say we were tolerant of abortion. and it was a big fight and we had a group of people who worked hard on that. ralph reed was one. and gary bauer and bay buchanan and i were all working on that. the media dubbed us the "fearsome foursome." i want to react at this straight the fearless foursesome so we reactivate the battle this year. this is the biggest challenge of our life, to make sure that we get a good candidate and we support him and we win. don't be inclined to go third party. if you're inclined to go that

way i invite you to move to europe. they have lots of useless third parties in europe. that is not our way. we have a two party system and i think you won't get very far trying to make the democratic party pro-life. you are stuck with the republican party. that is where the fight is and that is where we need you to get involved in politics. and eagle forum has been leading the way of that for years and we want to show again that our platform stands for traditional marriage the way god ordained it. we'll fight for it and we need everyone of you to be involved in politics from here through the 2016 election. it could be the most important election of our life and i want to see you in the battleground for that because we need all of you. we need you now. thank you for what you're doing. i appreciate it very much. [applause]

>> ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome the attorney general of the state of oklahoma, scott pruitt. [applause] scott pruitt: greetings to you from the great state of oklahoma where i as attorney general have

been working with a cadre of attorneys general across the country on the front line. and on the front line and responding to a president who has said apologetically he has a pen and he has a phone which is code for what? that he will disregard the checks and balances that the founders put in place and attorneys general across this great country have been responding since 2010 with many challenges. we're making a difference. you know, when you look back in our history i get nostalgic about history. i think back what it must have been like to live during the time of our founding where individuals were walking at that time understood what they were doing was not just about them. it would affect generations into the future. in fact there is a verse in ecclesiastes, do not say why were the old days are better than these. it is unwise to say such a thing. i've been a little confused. i look back at nostalgia to say why can't we have that today? when you think about it we live in a very important time. we live in a time much like the founders. we live in a time where what we're doing today will affect generations into the future because we have an administration, we have an administration that has said

many times over, that if congress doesn't act he will act in their place. it is attorneys general who recently brought an action against the president's up lawful immigration plan. it is the attorney generals of 26 states strong said to the president you can not through executive order do that through which congress is only empowered to do. it is attorneys general who began the battle in 2010 against unlawful, unconstitutional piece of legislation called the affordable care act. it is oklahoma who began the effort in september of 2012, that challenged the unlawful action of the irs when they disregarded 37 states decisions not to set up health care exchanges. that decision is coming out next week, if we win that case the affordable care act will be inoperable in 37 states across the country. [applause] we live in a key time. we live in a very key time. let me tell you how.

first and foremost we have a reimagining of first amendment principles. there is a battle that is ongoing that you have heard about already over the last couple days and involves religious liberty. we have individuals in this country who believe that your first amendment rights of free exercise is no more than a right of worship. many years ago i attended, i was in romania visiting with churches there, we were there on a mission trip. i was working with individuals that had been a part of the revolution. and i went to a church and i looked up on the wall and i saw pictures of pastors from the 1950s and 1960s. i asked the person i was walking with i'm a little confused. i know who was in authority, in power through the 1950s and 1960s in romania.

i see pictures up on wall. did you meet and worship during that time frame? the person said, yes, we met every week. as we met in worship there was always someone in attendance from the government who listened to everything we said. if we exported outside of the four walls of the church that which we were taught insides the four walls of the church we were arrested, persecuted prosecuted. there are people in this country today, one person on democrat ticket for president who believes our first amendment rights only guarranties you the right to worship on sunday and not live out your faith in the public scare.

the freedom from religion foundation. freedom of religion versus freedom from religion. the organizations that they are engaged in a lectionary across the country. they are engaged in electioneering. in 1954 the irs to determine responsibility to say he cannot endorse a candidate from the pulpit. never have they reached into content. the organization believes out of psalm 139 and the advocate principles we should value life in the moment of conception but that is considered -- the third admission brought a lawsuit against the irs. this organization brought a lawsuit. let me tell you what happened. the irs settled.

and they tell you it happened. the irs set up a lawsuit. i sent a letter to the irs late last year looking for a copy of the settlement. i wanted to do with the iris wanted to know what the iris agree to to dismiss the lawsuit make it go away. i know this will shock you but i haven't heard from the irs yet. let me say to you it is exemplary of what an issue . government uses its power to stand unapologetically unequivocally to protect it for the future. [applause] that it's not just a reimagining of first amendment rights this administration is about. it's not just religious liberty. it is not just the administration looks at right that the freedom of exercise. there is a check on rule of law. rule of law is a special thing. it allows businesses and individuals to know what's expected of them. it allows them to know that they can plan and allocate resources

and higher personnel and deploy capital. they can plan for the future. when you have an administration takes this statute until an executive agency to change the statute that creates instability. it creates uncertainty and means capital is not deployed. one of the first things entrepreneurs look lot across the globe is whether they are assets or investments protected by something called rule of law. we live in a country today when the confidence of rule of law has been eroded. it is all because of a president who says i've got a pen and i've got a phone. he's changed a lot with the affordable care act. he's using the epa to pick winners and losers contain fossil fuels are back on the renewables for good and he's about the effort changing our confidence in rule of law. let me say to you we are

fighting these battles and winning. it's an important time to do so. if we do not see them for worldwide today and executive power expended on palm events in our system. it's been a consequential time to be serving. a quote by teddy roosevelt that i will share with you. in any given situation the best thing you can do is the right thing. the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing. the worst thing you can do is nothing. as we head in 2016 and see the debate wrapup for who the nominees or republican parties we see the presidential race taking shape. i encourage you to fight for religious liberty. vital for rule of law. recognize the time that you are in our much like our founding

generation new at their time. will matter to your children and grandchildren. it will matter to the world and i promised in the state of oklahoma as long as i'm attorney general, we will join those soldiers across the country to make sure until this president leaves the white house the constitutional framework is protected, rule of law is preserved, and religious liberties are advanced, just as the founders would have wanted it. thank you so much. god bless you. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the stage strategist and pollster glen bolger. [applause] glen bolger: when my friend ralph reid asked me to speak at this years conference come he said i want to give you a

detailed overview of the political environment, the 2015 primary election and demographic challenges facing our party. and you have 10 minutes. so let's get right to it. where is my presentation. it is on the side. i am going to not be able to see what i am talking about. it is back over there. one of the things we face in this country is the hyper partisanship. there are no longer republicans who will vote for democrats. no longer democrats who will vote for republicans. turning out the base is so crucial and because there's more democrats than republicans, we have to make sure we win independence. when you look at the history by party, no president has a larger gap than obama and that carries over into politics.

make sure whatever you do, come next november and get your friends and neighbors who think like you to get out and vote because we need every vote to keep hillary out of the white house. [applause] the attitudes of the voters are mixed. in my company we call this the yo-yo of fact in terms of how people feel about the economy. sometimes they think we're doing good in other times not so well. you can see right now people think the economy is in the blah. it is interesting democrats say the great recovery we've got that the public isn't there and that is something when you are talking to voters, middle-class voters that you need to stress we need a change from the direction we are on. when you look at issues, the economy and jobs is still number one.

national security is increasing significantly. look at january 2014. 3% to double digits. that's a significant increase. among republican voters, you can see how much concern about national security issues has risen. so that is going to be a key framework. it's not the only party d.c. jobs and economy still very important. bend spending issues are important. national security issues have gone up significantly. voters look for a change more now than they were in 2008. a candidate of change, people want more change. we have this great opportunity with the political environment on the road to 2016.

you also see -- i'm having a hard time seeing this. among republican voters, right now they say it is more important to have a candidate who can beat the democrats than one who agrees with them on issues. we will see what happens in the primaries of people vote. keep in mind as you work for the candidate of your choice i hope you getting your states and do that, that you will hear a mix that. that is going to be very important as republican voters make those decisions over the next number of months. look at the democratic field. it is not that close. i think hillary is going to lose to bernie sanders in iowa. i think she will lose to bernie sanders in new hampshire and democratic primary voters will go all my god, what are we doing here and hillary will panic and

move further left and she will bounce back and win the nomination. and then look at the republican side, how wide-open things are. we have never in my lifetime and you can tell from the grey hairs it is more than an election or two. never seen anything as wide open for the republican nomination. in 2012 there is a different front runner every two weeks until that romney got his act together and pulled out ahead. here it is just wide-open. if you've got somebody you believe it, somebody you feel strongly about, there's a lot of you can provide so when you go home from here, get very involved in their campaign. hillary and democrats. there's times where she's been popular and if you notice now in this tracking poll, positives and negatives are equal.

the more political she is, the worse her image is. she is going to be pulled to the left by bernie sanders and mark -- martin o'malley. and that is what we see here. she won't answer where she stands on important issues and won't take questions from the press. she will only meet selected paid to democratic activism that will hurt your image. so let's talk about the electoral structure of the campaign. one challenge republicans base if this is not the same elect to -- this is not the same electorate that elected ronald reagan in 1980 and 1984. not the same that elected george h.w. bush or george w. bush in their election. this election is changing. mitt romney did well enough

among demographic groups that if he were running in the same voter poll issue in 2000 when george w. bush won, he would've not only won the presidency, he would've won by more. it shows you how america has changed more minority voting make it a larger percentage and republicans don't do that well. that is why we hear from candidates this year, stressing their support for making inroads for latino voters in african-americans which will be tough but latino voters in particular is extraordinarily important. the republican nomination is wide open. you all know that. you saw that in the polls. one thing to keep in mind as this is not determined by four states. it is not decided after iowa new hampshire, south carolina, florida and nevada as well. five states but who is counting?

in 2008 the republican nomination was wrapped up in march 4th. in 2012 it wasn't wrapped up until may 29 and that is when "the associated press" that mitt romney has enough delegates to be declared the republican nominee. it could go even longer. given the republican convention has been moved up to july, once we have a nominee, we need to unite behind that nominee quickly because hillary is going to have not a free run. she will have bumps. i am predicting she will lose iowa and new hampshire. but she is going to have a unified party and we have to make sure we do the same with the republican nominee. one thing to keep in mind as we cannot rest on our laurels from 2014.

what does the election results in 2014 has done a lot to help this country. what does it mean for the presidential campaign? absolutely nothing. look at what 2010 meant for 2012. there is just, look at 1994, the republican revolution, and clinton comes in and wednesday huge victory in 1996. don't assume the political environment and the makeup of the electorate is going to be the same in 2016 as it was in 2014, which is why it is so important to give voters who agree with you to turn out and vote if they think about not doing it. nothing more important for me nuts and bolts standpoint. that is the overview and believe

it or not i go back the balance of my three minutes and 46 seconds. thank you. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome the president of the american enterprise institute, arthur brooks. arthur: what an honor to be here, ladies and gentlemen. and it's a delight to see you here today. those who are patriots looking

forward to the road to the majority. i am the president of the american enterprise institute. i live in washington so you don't have to. what is the big political story in america today? to read the news, it's all about republicans in a crowded field. the true political story has nothing to do with republicans at all. the fact of political left in america is radicalizing quickly. but could the democratic field. the socialist running for president in his acceptance speech that quote, "you don't necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants." are there other spray deodorants? "or 18 different pairs of sneakers and children are hungry in this country." i taught economics for a long time. i can tell you that most starving children have no choice of sneakers. that is not the main point. the main point is the whole left is moving left, calcify

calcify ying into grievance and enrage. what do we do when that happens. ? we can do the same thing. strike back with their own greed and and on the nature the opposite. we can show what is written on our conservative cars and when the country for a country that needs us. that is what i want to talk about with you for the next few minutes. to be honest, there is a problem with respect to how people see conservatives. you know this is true. an interesting associated press poll asked americans to say whether or not the word compassionate or uncompassionate characterizes the republican party. uncompassionate beat compassionate 11-1.

if you get rid of the paid staff in republican party and blood relatives, backgrounds to zero. -- that rounds to 0. that is a problem. if we can change this right now while the left is getting angrier and against people, the country is ours. our movement wins. to do that i suggest you that we need to do two basic things. number one, fight for people. stop fighting against things all the time. the first presidential election i paid attention to was the patron saint of our movement, ronald, obviously. it was a little bit of a cult fancy, you know you love ronald reagan, as if he is still here but we tend to forget the real reagan magic. we remember reagan as fighting against things against

, regulation, against government, against bureaucracy, against state wage, and those were things he spoke about to be sure. the real reagan magic was he was for people. at the time in the 1980 election, jimmy carter was very much like the current inhabitant of the white house. the country was in malaise. our best years were behind us, and reagan reject that. he rejected that with positivity by being pro-people, by saying it was morning in america. he accepted his nomination in detroit in 1980. sad city these days. in his speech, the number one word he used was "people." he said 87 times in his acceptance speech. that is the reagan magic.

that is what we get to get back as we look across the political landscape at the radicalizing left. americans see the light falling back and somebody's going to rush into the breach. if it is us, we win. shift every one of your arguments away from fighting against things. shift them all to fighting for people. this is not a cosmetic difference. think about why we are angry about. i know you're mad. so am i. think about the thing we like to -- the obama care.

here's a radical thing i suggest to you. stop fighting against it. start fighting for the people adversely affected by the affordable care act, a.k.a. obamacare. [applause] think about it specifically. if that goes unchecked 10 years from now, you will be fine. the people not here who are poor are going to have inadequate health care had no choice 10 years from now because of the bureaucratic economy. somebody has to stand up for the people who might not even felt like us. fight for the people adversely affected by the law. i know you were warriors for education reform and it drives you crazy we have an inadequate education system in our country. why? because you hate teachers unions? no. it is not about fighting against teachers unions anymore. it is fighting for poor children left behind in this country. [applause]

fight for kids, not against unions. fight for people, not obamacare. you work on the same side as ideas. they say that reminds me of something. it reminds me of the person who put the conservative movement on the map politically in our adult lifetimes. once again let me remind you it's not the people sitting here. we do not fight for ourselves. free enterprise and american greatness are not for us they are for the people who don't have our privileges. their fate is in your hands. incredibly when you listened to the state of the union address the president of the united states boasted about the american economy coming back it and his evidence was the incredible success of the american stock market. 81% of those gains have gone

into the top 10% of the income distribution. the wealth has gone to the rich. meanwhile, the poorest of the poor have fallen behind in this administration. they need you to fight for them. january 2009, 32 million americans were on food stamps. today 48 million americans are , food stamps. americans so poor they have to rely on their own government for sustenance. that is the fruit of this administration and ideology and , someone has to fight for them. if it is not you, nobody. we fight for people, not against things. that is action item number one. number two, remember what it is

people really need. you know it in your heart but it's time to talk it over italy. my colleagues and i are not just a think tank. we are an action tank. we spent a lot of time and one of my favorite places believe it or not is a homeless shelter in new york city. the most unlovable members of our society. men, single men who have been many years incarcerated and are now homeless and they come out of prison. they are the people our society doesn't like. they are not sympathetic figures. we have to do something. it's the most successful homeless shelter in new york city for getting people back to work. the lowest rate of prison recidivism. i went there to see what is going on. i met richard. i went one week after richard had gotten out of prison in and and had come to the homeless shelter. he said he just came out. he knew it was his last chance. really sad story, went into prison as a teenager, he had

just come out, did not have a cell phone, he did not know how to drive a car. all he had was the will to change his life around. i came back a year later. i met richard again. new man. he had a job. he had an apartment. his job was working as an exterminator of bugs. his life was together, but that wasn't the question i had for him. i said congratulations, you have a job. you have a house. i said are you happy? , he said are you kidding me? let me show you something. he took out his iphone. i was thinking to myself, man, you're happy because you have an iphone? that thing will wreck your life. that wasn't what he meant. he had an e-mail from his boss the guy who runs the -- the manager of the exterminator company. and the e-mail said emergency

bedbug situation on east 65th street. i need you now. listen to this. they need me now. he really needs me. that is the secret. remember why we are here because every person deserves to earn his or her success. that is the essence of the movement. -- that is the essence of the conservative movement. every person is an asset to society. [applause] ask yourself, am i a warrior for opportunity? do i believe nobody is a liability but everybody is an asset? poor people, people with disabilities, people in prison. do you love people enough to fight for their opportunities? if the answer is yes, you are a conservative because you understand the nature of dignity through work, and that's what we have to fight for. if we do that, we remember what

every single person needs, and if we remember what people need, right now in the political moment, this political cycle and going forward will change the conservative movement and change the country for good. now, i know there is a ton to be unhappy about, a lot to be angry about and the temptation to lash out. every night i have a dream about some new terrible obama administration and then i wake up and read the "washington post" and it turns out what happened is worse than my dream. every night. [laughter] i have to remind myself that happiness is a choice. that love is a strategy. that we get to reach out to our fellow man and lift them up and that is what it means to be a conservative. not to conserve my way of life but to bring the best that has been thought and said, the love of our society and communities

and of our faith and our families and the sanctification of ordinary work to give them dignity. that is the secret and magic of the conservative movement. i'm asking you to fight for people and give people what they really need, which is earned success. this is just a little sample this is part of a broader strategy. if you go to our booth here the , american enterprise institute has a booth. you will get this for free. you'll get a little book called "the conservative heart," it is actually a chapter of the new book i have coming out. read it and we will send you a copy of the book. i want you to work with me en masse to work together to bring the country back. that is the road to the majority. [applause] america needs you to win.

america might not know it in every case, but you are the secret and you need to win because the country needs to come back. i will ask you to ask yourself and this is the question i have for myself as well. an examination of my conscience i try to do each night before i go to sleep. as the president of a public policy organization in washington, it is easy to ask myself -- was the press nice to me today? but that is banned vanity. here's the real question. i ask you to ask yourself. did all of the activism, did all of the work go for less power than me? if the answer is no we are not , doing the right thing. if the answer is yes, get a good night's sleep. if you do it, america is going to win because you will win, too. god bless you and god bless america. [applause]

>> ladies and gentlemen, help me welcome cheryl key flee, concerned women for america board of directors. cheryl: isn't it great to see so many people yucca we need to lift them up in prayer because america needs them. it is my pleasure and privilege to introduce the next speaker, who is a man that really does not need introduction because if you did not know about him before the 2013 national prayer breakfast where he was a speaker, you certainly knew about him after that.

you remember him up there standing next to the president and criticizing obama ccare. ben carson is a true american success story. he was raised in a single-parent home by a mother who never made it past the third grade, but she was a strong woman, a determined woman, and she challenged her children to become exceptional. i guess that were. children, ben carson beat the odds and not only excelled in high school, but when on to

study at the university and after he graduated, he worked several jobs before going to medical school. he worked as an x-ray technician, bank teller, school bus driver, supervisor for highway cleanup crews, and a crane operator in a factory. very well-rounded. and then he was accepted into the university of michigan school of medicine and upon completing medical school, dr. carson went on to direct pediatric neurosurgery at johns hopkins children's center for 29 years. dr. carson has received numerous awards, including the presidential medal of freedom, which is the highest civilian honor in america. he was appointed by president george bush to serve on the president's council on bioethics in 2004 and was named by cnn and "time" magazine as one of the nation's 20 foremost physicians and scientists.

he is a writer and author and has published 8 books so far. if you haven't read one of his books yet, what are you waiting for? carson has been well known for his speech at the 2013 national prayer breakfast, and he's been married to his wife candy for 40 years, and they have three sons. please help me welcome dr. ben carson. [cheers and applause] thank you so much. there he is. dr. carson: thank you very match. thank you. i'm delighted to be here with you today. you know, i was thinking yesterday about the terrible tragedy in charleston, south carolina. one of the people who was killed, somebody i was talking

to just a few weeks ago, the state senator who along with one of the other members was a cousin of my business manager. and close friend, armstrong williamson. these things hit so close to home. if we don't pay close attention to the hatred and division going on in our nation, this is a harbinger of what we can expect. i'd like to to take a moment of silence to remember those who lost their lives. rep. delbene:dr. carson: thank you. you know, faith and freedom are topics i like to talk about. there is no time clock up here so you will see me checking my watch from time to time. i realized when i was in iowa, one of the left wing media said

"carson kept checking his watch." that's because they give me specific time and i don't want to go over it. they always find something negative to say. that's ok. i find it amusing. [laughter] at any rate, when i think about the things that really enhanced my faith, i was a youngster who was troubled. i had a horrible temper. i remember when i was 14, another youngster angered me and i had a large camping knife and i tried to stab him in the abdomen. fortunately, under his clothing he had a large metal belt , buckle. he fled in terror. i was more troubled than he was recognizing that i was trying to kill someone over nothing. i locked myself in the bathroom, and i started contemplating my life. i have turned things around academically. i was a horrible student. through the efforts of my mother making my read, i conquered that

and became a very good student but i realized that i was never going to realize my dream of becoming a doctor with a temper like that. my choices were going to be jail, reform school, or the grave, but none of those appeal to me. i said lord, "unless you help me, i'm not going to make it." there was a bible and i picked it up and there were all these verses in there about fools. and i read them and they sounded like they were talking about me. but they were always these verses about anger but proverbs 1918. no point getting an angry man out of trouble because he will get right back into it. proverbs 1632 and a man who can conquer a city. verse after verse, chapter after chapter, all written about me. i came to an understanding

during that time that to lash out at somebody, to punch somebody in the face was not a sign of strength. it was a sign of weakness. it meant you could be easily controlled or easily manipulated. i also came to understand being angry has a lot to do with selfishness because it's always about me, my and i. somebody took my thing. if you can learn to step out of the center of the equation and let it be about somebody else and look at things from other people's point of view, you are not likely to get angry. that was the last day i had an angry outburst. it has never happened again since that day. [cheers and applause] but you know, some people say "you just know how to cover it up." no. i was hiding a secret. but god fixes a problem, he

doesn't do a paint job. he fixes it from the inside. it is fixed. that gave me a lot of faith. i talked to god not only is my heavenly father, but earthly father to go to when you have problems and help you in situations. as i was entering my senior year in college, i had been resisting relationships with girls, women because i did not want them to get in the way of my studies. i said it's probably time to start here. i said, "lord, let the next relationship be the right one because i won't resist it." and he gave me the most wonderful wife and a couple of weeks we will celebrate our 40th anniversary. [applause] he's available if we just ask him for stuff in terms of our faith. when i was finishing my residency at johns hopkins johns hopkins is a modern

birthplace for neurosurgeons and , we were opening a new neuroscience center, so all of the bigwigs from around the world were there. one from australia took a liking to me. who says you should come to australia and practice in western australia. i said, "australia, you have got to be kidding me." i didn't think about, but that is what i was thinking. you drill a hole from washington and come out in australia. and i have heard they had a whites only policy. so i wasn't all that interested. it seemed like every time i turned around, there was someone saying "g'day, mate, how are you doing?" every time i turned the tv on there is a special about australia. i said i think the lord wants us

to go to australia. my wife started doing some research and discovered they had a whites only policy but was officially abolished in 1968. so we sold all of our earthly belongings and off we went to australia. our friends were saying you will be back in three weeks. little did they know we didn't have anymore money. we couldn't come back. [laughter] the biggest problem we had with keeping up with the dinner invitations. they love americans, and they like to hear your accent. when i would dictate an operative note, sometimes the ladies would comment and say dr. carson, we can't understand your accent. i said, excuse me, i am the american, you have the accent. [laughter] the second problem every time i sat down to read a chart the second problem i have, invariably, someone would come up and they can i feel your hair? [laughter] i would say you can feel it, but

it will cost you 10 bucks. i couldn't remember their names because they all looked alike. [laughter] i realize why god sent me there because they were only four neurosurgical consultants in all of western australia. once they discovered that i knew how to operate, as a senior registrar, they left me in charge of the major teaching hospital. i was doing three or four major craniotomies everyday. if i stayed on at hopkins i would've gotten whatever whatever anybody else didn't want to do. but in australia i was doing , these fabulous cases for a year. when i came back to john hopkins to join the faculty, shortly after the position opened up normally they would get somebody with a lot of gray hair, but they said carson is very young but he knows how to do everything. there was, 33, chief of

pediatric surgery at johns hopkins. but the lord had prepared me for that, and i began to understand how he always prepares you for what he wants to do. i thought it was pretty hot stuff. this little kid came in from georgia, and he had been diagnosed with a malignant brainstem tumor, and multiple opinions everybody just told the parents to take him home and let him die. they ended up at hopkins. i looked at his skin and i said wow, this is awful. the kid was barely moving, barely breathing, foaming at the mouth. eyes looking in different directions. i said to the parents, there's nothing i can do about this. and they said, "but, doctor, the lord is going to heal our son, and he is going to use you to do it."

i said i will tell you what. let's get an mri. they were new at this time. maybe it will show something that was not the cat scan. we got an mri and i showed it to the radiologist. they say the same thing. but, "doctor the lord." the lord is going to heal our son. i said i'll tell you why. you've come all the way up here. i will do a biopsy. one in 1000 times the scans are wrong and maybe this is that time. i open his head up, went on the brainstem with this grayish red mask. i biopsied it. cambric high-grade glioma, a malignant tumor. i took out as much as i dared, closed it up, talked to the parents, and sent all the things you normally say. only god knows why people live for so long and may be served its purpose better and will understand it in time. thank you, doctor, but the lord is going to heal our son. i just shook my head in amazement at their faith as i walked away fully expecting he

would deteriorate and die. instead, his eyes became conjugate, looking in the same direction. i said, "what is going on? maybe we should do another scan," and we did and there is still a big ugly tumor. the tumor was in the corner. is it possible that tumors outside of the brainstem and its is crushing the point you can't see it and maybe i should go back in? they said by all means. i went back and in the nature of the tumor was different. i peeled away layer by layer. when i got to the last layer there was a glistening white , brainstem intact, smashed but intact. make a long story short, that boy eventually walked out of the hospital. today he is a minister. [applause]

interestingly enough, one of the came oncologists came up to me and said i've always been an atheist, but now i am a believer. it is really for me because i thought i was doing a great thing. i thought i was really hot stuff. i realized after that that it wasn't me, it was god. and i said lord, you beating a row surgeon. i will be the hands. that is for the title gifted hands came from. god is in charge in terms of what happens. i look at something like the bender twins the first set of , conjoined twins. i've been involved in several, but that was the first set, the

dead matter before been separated and survived. two months before i knew anything about the bender twins i just had this obsession with , conjoined twins. i started trying to figure out why the results were so dismal. i concluded it was the segregation of bleeding to death. i started talking to people. i talked to a friend of mine who was the chief of cardiothoracic surgeons. i said, you guys operate on babies' hearts, how do you keep them from bleeding out? they told me where you cool the body temperature, pump the blood up, operate for an hour, public put it back in in, and start the heart. i thought that might work if we did it at the critical time. two months later, here they showed up being presented all of the world to see if anybody had an idea how they could both be saved. when i explain things, everybody started getting excited. we started putting together a team at hopkins.

that was the great things about being at hopkins. you have incredibly smart people in lots of different areas. you are able to put together the right kind of team. that is such an important factor because there were things i didn't know, but experts who did know them. and if you can get those people working together toward the same goal, it is amazing what can be accomplished. in fact, as you know, it turned out well and they both survived and now is the first and only time that's ever happened with those kinds of twins. but god always prepares you for what he wants you to do and that really is the key. those of us who are people of faith have to trust in him, have to believe he will give you what you need and understand what you are doing. know your stuff so well. you need not be ashamed because you know what you're talking about all the time. i remember a few years back i was engaged in a debate in

hollywood with a leading atheist. this guy thinks anybody who believes in god is a total moron. as we got to the end of the conversation, you know, he is denigrating anybody who could believe in creation, i said you know what, you win. because i believe i came from god, and you believe you came from a monkey, and you have convinced me. you are right. [laughter] [applause] but i mean, what can i say? you know. but the fact of the matter is it is important for us to have a good foundation in terms of what we believe, and we have to be willing to stand up strongly for it.

you think about in the pre-revolutionary days in this country. those settlers were not happy with king george the third and his dictatorial style. tyranny was alive and well. they began to get together in their town halls, barns, living rooms. they even invited the loyalists. they said what kind of nation do you want to have? what are you willing to stand up for and fight for? what are you willing to die for? and they encouraged each other and that is how a ragtag bunch of militiamen were able to beat the most old and professional army on the planet. -- the most powerful and professional army on the planet. that is what we are going to have to do today. we are going to have to be willing to stand up for what we

believe in. the majority of americans actually have common sense. they actually think logically. they actually believe in the values and principles that made this into a great nation. but they have been beaten into submission and they are afraid to speak out. that is the reason i stand so vehemently against political correctness. people fought and died so we

could have the freedom of speech and the freedom of expression. we shouldn't give it away. it is the reason i am so vehemently opposed to the so-called affordable care at not act, not because it's all about income redistribution and control, but the reason i dislike it so much is because i love america and what america stands for. america is a place that is of, for, and by the people with the government there to facilitate life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. what this demonstrates is the opposite. the government comes along and says i don't care what you people think. we are doing it our way. we are going to jam it down your throat. if you don't like it, too bad. that is not america. we must stand up for what america really is. [applause] and it's going to really come down to this. are we willing to be called a name, to get an irs audit, to have somebody messed with your

job or your children? see, most of us have a tendency to put our head down and hope that nobody notices. but i have got to tell you freedom is not free. you have to fight for freedom every single day, and it is not something we are going to be able to pass on to our children if we neglect to do that. think about the people who came before us. nathan hill started as a teenager, became a spy -- when he was caught by the british and ready to be executed, he said my only regret is that i have a one but one life to for my country. think about that. think about all the soldiers who gave their lives. many cases knowing they would never see their loved ones or

their homeland again, and they did it for you and for me and now it is up to us to decide what are we going to do with that freedom. and yes, i know president obama said that we are not a judeo-christian nation, but he doesn't get to decide. we get to decide what kind of nation we are. thank you so much. [cheers and applause] [applause] >> coming up live, c-span will head to san francisco for comments by president obama before the conference of mayors meeting. we will take you there live in about 10 minutes. 5:15 p.m. eastern time.

this weekend the c-span's cities tour partnered with comcast to learn about the history and literary life of key west, florida. >> we compete against each other ernest hemingway -- ernest hemingway wrote from this house. >> pauline turned this hay loft into his first formal writing studio. he fell in love with fishing, he was producing work that he knocked out, the first rough draft of "a farewell to arms" in just two weeks from arriving in key west. if you really want to write start with one true sentence. ernest hemingway: a true writer tries again for something that is beyond. he always tries for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed. >> key west is also where

president harry truman sought refuge from washington. >> the president regarded the big white house as the great white jail. he thought he was constantly under everyone's eye, and so by coming to key west, he could come with his closest staff, let down his hair, sometimes some of the staff would let their beards grow for a couple of days. they certainly told off-color stories, and they could certainly have a glass of bourbon and visit back and forth without any scrutiny from the press. a sportswear company said hawaiian shirts for the president with the thought that if the president is wearing our short, we will sell a lot of shirts, so president truman wore those free shirts that first year, and then organized what they call the "loud shirt contest" and that was the official uniform of key west. >> watch all of our events from

key west saturday at 5:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2's book tv and on american history tv on c-span3. >> some more sitting kind of front left of the chamber, if you will, so when brooks comes into the chamber, he comes into the center doors, sits down, and is a most looking directly at sumner. the problem at sumner is not looking at him. his head is bowed, he is literally signing copies of the crime against kansas beach was lucky gets up, walks down the center aisle with his cane approaches sumner, again totally oblivious to what is happening head bowed lifts his cane over his head, and says i have read your speech to my state and my

relative, sumner looks up to this, he is blurred through his glasses, and brooks strikes sumner on the top of the head. his head explodes in blood almost instantly. >> on the caning of massachusetts senator charles sumner by south carolina congress and preston brooks, that drove the country closer to civil war. sunday night at 8:00 eastern and pacific on c-span's q&a." >> some gop presidential candidates have been speaking about the shootings wednesday. at a historic black church in charleston, speaking at the faith and freedom conference, we heard from former florida governor jeb bush and then dr. ben carson. jeb bush,: i do not know what was on the heart or the mind of the man who created these crimes,

but i do know the head of the victims -- they were praying. they were learning and studying the word of the lord to find greatness and his kingdom to fill his house with love, and in times like these, in times of great national mourning, people of faith, all of us must come together and at least reflect on this and fortify our strength, love of crisis, love of god to be able to continue to go forward. i do not know about you, but this has had an impact on me, and i am sure it has with you. we need to support each other. we must continue to bear witness to the truth that god acts through us, and even in crisis even in desperate times, we can always walk upright as brothers and sisters and look to the heavens and know that we are children of god. that gives us all strength, and i know that your hearts and prayers are with the families and with the pastor who lost their life, and let's hope it never, ever, ever happens again. [laughter]

[applause] dr. carson: you know, i was thinking yesterday about the terrible tragedy in charleston south carolina. one of the people who was killed, somebody i was talking to just a few weeks ago, the state senator who along with one of the other members was a cousin of my business manager. and close friend, armstrong williamson. these things hit so close to home. if we don't pay close attention to the hatred and division going on in our nation, this is a harbinger of what we can expect. i'd like to to take a moment of silence to remember those who lost their lives. dr. carson: thank you.

>> and the conference of mayors meeting underway, sacramento mayor kevin johnson on the podium now talking about the health of cities across the united states. the group heard from house minority leader nancy pelosi just a few minutes ago, and coming up shortly, president obama asked acted to make remarks. he is scheduled for right now 5:15 p.m. eastern time. he may be running a little bit late. we will let you know the associated press report, president obama unleashing his frustration over political gridlock, and despite a fast-track trade authority from democrats, he is here to raise money for lawmakers who voted against trade promotion authority, including house speaker nancy pelosi. we will be here to see what the mayor of sacramento has to say and president obama coming up shortly. mayor johnson: let's give it up.

[applause] >> all right, good afternoon. >> until the president appears we will give you some remarks from earlier, ohio governor john kasich. he spoke at the faith and freedom coalition and washington d.c. we will bring you back here to san francisco as long -- as soon as the president arrives. [applause] governor kasich: thank you. i have got to tell you -- let me tell you a story, i kind of rolled around in my head what i wanted to say here today, but when i was a little boy, probably in about the fourth grade, i was a catholic, and i would go to church on sunday, and i saw all of these kits, these older boys, altar boys,

and i thought you know, that would be a cool thing to do, and they told had to learn about 100 pages of lesson, which i did over the course of about a week, and i qualified, and i got to be an altar boy. i remember my first mass. i did it for a number of years. i went to public school, but i was deeply involved in the church, and around the ninth grade or 10 great, one sunday the commentator -- i do not know if many of you know what the commentator is, but he or she's -- he stands at the podium and reads the hymns. the commentator did not show up so the pastor of the church that hey, get out of those clothes put on that polyester jacket you have and go down there and leave the folks. so i got there, i got up on the podium, and i could my mother sitting out there, and she started to get up wondering what the heck i was doing. i said, "mom, it is ok." i got up and i was part of that

service, and i did that for a number of years. i do not remember whether i was a junior or a senior but one sunday, we were doing this, and one of the things i would not do is sing. it is tough enough, i'm in a public school, all of my friends are watching me, and i just did not want to sing, so we got to the closing hymn, and i announced the closing hymn, and the organs started to play and the priest was coming down off the altar, and nobody was singing. and i shouted -- stop the organ. the organist stopped playing. i said why do you go to church? do you go here to be a bump on a log? the lord loves singing. would you pick up the prayer books, turn to page 48. the priest is looking at me, like what is this guy doing. the organist plays, a few more people saying, and that is the end -- sing, and that is the

end. a little lady walked up to me at that young man, i love to sing in church, and i particularly love to sing the closing hymn. the next time, will you please give us the right page that it is on? [laughter] and it has been that way throughout most of my lifetime. you know, as a kid, as a young man, in the church and in my life i felt the lord. he did not speak to me send me an e-mail or a phone call, but i felt him. like many young people, the lord became a rabbit's foot for me, pull it out on election day, on press day, come on, lord, i got the rabbits foot. then in 1987, michael novak, the

great theologian, talks about life as a veil of tears. in 1987, a severe storm hit my life. and it threatened to wash me away. i wrote a book about this. it is called "every other monday," and any churches throughout the country read this book. when it happened and that storm hit, i was not sure how it would survive. i reached out, and i clung to all a new, and i said "god, i'm not know what is going on here," and the minister showed up, and we talked, and he said to me -- where do you stand with the lord?

as i buried my mother and father, i reflected on it. he said to me -- there is a window of opportunity right now for you. you're hurt and your pain will disappear, but you have an opportunity to figure out who you are and where you are, and i started on ground zero. is there such a thing called god? does god love me, does he know my name, will he answer me, does jesus really live on the earth was he really the son of god and i toured all apart. no more rabbits foot for me. no more rabbits foot. i have to get to the bottom line were either i believe it or i do not. that was 28 years ago. for 28 years, not quite like

jacob, i wrestled with it all. the more i wrestled, the stronger i get. the more i wrestled, the stronger the foundation that i am trying to build my house upon. i did not come here for politics. i was asked to come here. i was in utah the other day doing an interview with a young woman, and she said -- sometimes you talk about faith. a lot of people do not like you when you talk about faith. she said, why do you do it? i said i will you in on a little secret. the storms of life will conquer, it is inevitable. the lord is there to be with you, to support you, to give you strength.

over the last 28 years, i have been set free. people say john kasich, he takes positions, sometimes we do not understand it. i tell you what the lord has done for me. confidence strength, and worldly criticism. it is not matter a whole lot to me. you see, i know that the role that i have to play on earth to lift people, to realize that all of those that were made in the image of the lord need to be upheld, we know we need to love our enemies. that is a hard one. we know we have to be humble. we know we have to stand for the poor and the bereaved and the widowed. god bless those people in south carolina.

they are playing for the larger game, i believe, just like i am. i have a mission, and i have a role on this earth, but i am trying to prepare myself, for the world is yet to come. one of my heroes, dallas willard, he said as you live your life on earth, are you prepared to run five cities for the lord in the kingdom yet to come. i talked to a lot of young people, and you know what i tell them -- you have a gift. you are made special, there is nobody like you. i do not believe in shoving my views down anybody's throat. cs lewis in a book i was just reading last night said he cannot even live up to his own principles, and i do not either.

i am a failed guy, but what i know is every day i have a new opportunity. but what i tell these dumb people you are a gift, they are different, and they are unique to you. the key to life is to unwrap those gifts, whatever they may be, and use those gifts to change the world, to make the world a better place. and you can tell people about that handbook. that handbook was not here to tell us what we should not do. that handbook that the lord has given us has told us the way to lead a successful and meaningful life. and his blessings, in my opinion, from reading that handbook. my life, i have been struck by lightning since the day they called me to the podium to be a commentator in that church.

i was elected to the legislature at 26 years of age. my mother and father could not believe it. they did not even live in ohio. in 1982, at the age of 30, i got a chance to go to washington and work with ronald reagan and so many other great people. i became the chairman of the budget committee. my dad carried mail on his back is that my mother's mother cannot speak english. my father's father was a coal miner. and johnny kasich is in washington? i became the budget manager, we lifted people, the economy grew. i served on the defense committee putting the resources in so that america can be strong. and it needs to be strong today. and then i left. i just left.

i said it is time to leave. and i wrote books, and i -- remember, i was a big star, you remember. but i got a calling, folks, and i have been telling them repeatedly jonah did not want to go. but when you are called in whatever way you sense it,, you have got to go. so i became governor. first guy to beat an incumbent in 36 years for stop i had never even run statewide. how did this happen? the state was about dead. people were getting crushed and losing hope. not today. we are growing jobs, the most important thing but as we grow jobs, we leave no one behind.

if you are mentally ill we are not locking you up in prison. if we can avoid it. we want to treat you, we want you to be on your feet to live your god-given purpose. i have been criticized for this, by the way, i have been criticized for this. the drug addicted could be in your family. get them treated and get them on their feet to live their god-given purpose, ok? [applause] your working poor, we want you to get decent health care. >> we had back now to san francisco for remarks by president obama at the u.s. conference of mayors, and you can watch our session with john kasich online, c-span.org. [applause]

president obama: hey! thank you. thank you so much. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you so much. thank you, mayor. thank you so much. everybody, please have a seat. thank you. thank you so much. i love being with mayors. [laughter] it is great to be here, although i did worry a little bit that dennis johnson would introduce me again. at the white house, he had the old bulls singsong. it set a very high bar, as if i were michael jordan coming out. he is a great friend, and i appreciate him, as i do so many

of the mayors here. i saw a lot of you in washington in january. i had such a good time, i said let's move this summer as well and this summer i thought i would come to you. i want to thank our host, san francisco mayor ed lee. [applause] he was just in the white house for the san francisco giants championship visit. i know how excited the mayor is over the golden state warriors championship. [cheers and applause] i want to thank two outstanding public servants -- governor jerry brown and leader nancy pelosi, who are here with us today. [applause] and i want to thank this year's leaders of the conference of mayors, kevin johnson, stephanie rawlings blake and oklahoma city mayor mick cornett.

i also want to mention a few outstanding mayors who are getting ready to step down. michael nutter of philadelphia has done outstanding work. greg ballard of indianapolis, an outstanding mayor, doing great work with my brothers keeper. anita parker of houston. loving it. and my dear old friend michael coleman of columbus, ohio. and finally, a great mayor one of my favorite people, and i know one of the people all of you admire so much, a great mayor, joel riley of charleston. [applause]

goes bookgoes back home doing one of a mayor's sadder, more important duties today. obviously, the entire country has been shocked and heartbroken by what has happened. the nature of this attack in a place of worship where congregants invite in a stranger to worship with them only to be gunned down adds to the pain. the apparent motivations of the shooter remind us that racism remains a blight that we have to combat together. we have made great progress, but we have to be vigilant because it is still linked, and when it is poisoning the minds of young people it betrays our ideals

and sets our democracy apart. as we grieve this particular tragedy, i think it is important, as i mentioned at the white house, to step back and recognize that these tragedies have become far too, place. few people understand the terrible toll of gun violence like mayors do, and whether it is the mass shooting like the one in charleston or individual attacks that add up over time, it costs you money and costs you resources, it costs you dearly. more than 11,000 americans were killed by gun violence in 2013 alone.

11,000. if congress had passed some common sense gun safety reforms after newtown, after a group of children had been gunned down in their own classroom reform that 90% of american people supported -- we would not have prevented every act of violence or even most -- we do not know it would have invented what happened in charleston -- no reform can guarantee a limitation of violence, but we might have some more americans with us. we might have stopped one shooter -- [applause] some families might still be whole. we all might have to attend fewer funerals. and we should be strong enough to a knowledge this. at the very least, we should be

able to talk about this issue as citizens, without demonizing all gun owners, who are overwhelmingly law-abiding, but also without suggesting that any debate about this involves a wild plot to take everybody's guns away. i know today's politics makes it less likely that we stand any serious gun safety legislation. i remarked that it is very unlikely that this congress would act, and some reporters i think, took this as resignation. i want to be clear -- i am not resigned. i have faith we will eventually do the right thing. [applause] i was simply making the point that we have to move public opinion. we have to feel a sense of

urgency. ultimately, congress will follow the people and we have to stop being confused about this. at some point as a country, we have to reckon with what happens. it is not good enough simply to show sympathy. you do not see murder on this kind of scale with this kind of frequency on any advanced nation on earth. every country has violence, hateful, or mentally unstable people. what is different is not a free country is awash with easily accessible guns. i refuse to act as if this is the new normal or to pretend

that it is simply sufficient to grieve and that any new mention of us doing some thing to stop it is somehow politicizing the problem. [cheers and applause] we need a change in attitudes among everybody. lawful gun owners, those who are unfamiliar with guns. we have to have a conversation about it and fix it. and ultimately, congress acts when the public insists on action. and we have seen how public opinion has changed. we have seen a change on gay marriage. we have seen it beginning to change on climate change. we have got to shift how we think about this issue.

and we have the capacity to change it. but we have to feel a sense of urgency about it. we as a people have got to change. that is how we honor those families. that is how we honor the families in newtown. that is how we honor the families in aurora. now, the first time i spoke at this conference in 2008, i said that americans canns can be succeeding in spite of washington. i made it a pro-ready to partner with mayors like you. that is why i named reformer mayors to my cabinet. that is why i asked the former president of this conference jerry abramson, to be one of my

top advisers. [applause] that is why my staff and i work with mayors like you across the country every day on just about every issue under the sun from school, community policing business development, veterans homelessness. because mayors about to get the job done. if you are mayor, it is not sufficient to just blather on. [laughter] you actually have to do something. it is not enough to figure out -- how do i position myself on a particular issue to minimize the possibility that i might get in trouble or criticized? because people expect you to trim the trees and pave the road and pick up the garbage and educate our kids and police our

streets. whatever the problem, large or small, you have got to do everything you can to solve it. you do not let partisanship stop you, you do not let cynicism stop you you are always on the hunt for good ideas no matter where they come from, and i'm going to embarrass jerry for a second. he took his wife, madeline, to paris a few years after they got married, and she took in all the splendor the shoretel is charm, and she took photos of garbage cans -- and he took photos of garbage cans. [laughter] that is a mayor for you. so she teased him about it. there is the eiffel tower -- he said, "those are some beautiful garbage cans." [laughter] soon enough, downtown louisville had garbage cans that looked an awful lot like the parisian garbage cans. that is a mayor right there! somebody who is always thinking about how to make his or her

city better, even on vacation in paris! and stops at nothing to get it done. now as president, i am constantly thinking about how we together can keep growing the economy and growing new pathways of opportunity for the american people to get ahead, and across the country, the good news is we are making progress, and you are seeing it in your cities. more than 12 million new private sector jobs in the past five years. more than 16 million americans who gained health insurance. more jobs creating clean energy. here in california, solar is going crazy. we have 10 times more solar power today than we did when i came into office, 10 times. three times as much wind energy. double the amount of energy. [applause] more kids graduating from high school and college than ever before. i'm proud of that. and by the way, we have done it

why we are divested by 2/3. you do not hear that much, but let me just point that out. [applause] and i am proud when particularly it is hard to get anything through congress, even when we are talking about issues that most americans outside of washington can agree on. but that is why we also partnered with many of you over the past couple of years, to make real progress of the economic priorities that matter to middle-class families. we are working with many of you to help working families make ends meet and feel more secure in a changing economy. so far, 19 cities have enacted paid sick days. five states enacted paid sick days or paid family leave, oregon is set to join them soon. 17 states have raise their minimum wage. twice seven cities and counties have taken action to raise the wage as well. we are working with many of you

to help working families earn higher wages down the road with skills and education they need. seattle, a city with a democratic mayor, and murray -- ed murray, just pass universal pk, indianapolis, a city with a republican mayor, greg ballard is starting citywide public scholarships. even more young people getting the early education. three months ago, i initiated tech hire to train for the high skilled, high wage jobs of tomorrow. we are looking to double the number, so if you're town has jobs that need filling, and people want to fill them, come join us. we are working with many of you to generate more high wage jobs for our workers to fill. 11 cities have joined a new

innovation to help start of employers started business in just one day, cut the red tape. we are working with high-tech manufacturing hubs to keep america at the forefront of innovation. the first hop in youngstown, ohio is doing cutting-edge research and 3-d printing and has already attracted tens of millions of investment in the region. so we are creating jobs, we are training folks for jobs, we are also working with many of you to make our streets safer and our communities stronger. more than 230 local and tribal leaders have joined the my brother's keeper initiative, and are taking meaningful steps to change the odds for young people in tough circumstances. together, you are working to curb juvenile arrests, reduce

absenteeism, and you are helping these kids imagine a bigger future for themselves. today at the lawrence livermore national lab just on the road, more than 100 students from oakland and san francisco are participating in the first mbk day at the lab where they can learn about s.t.e.m. careers. in meantime, police holding impromptu barbershop meetings in charlotte, training young people on the job, cities like yours are striving to rebuild the trust between law enforcement and communities. making sure police have the resources they need to do their jobs, and making sure that every police officer who has an incredibly tough job is trained in making the kinds of connections with communities that engender trust and ensure that everybody is treated equally under the law, which makes for smarts law enforcement

and then decays our values. these are just a few of the examples of the work that is being done and i have named everything we are doing to work together, but we would be here all day, so here is the bottom line. on america's most important economic priorities from supporting working families to improving education to creating good new jobs, getting people to those new jobs, to improving a formal housing, to dealing with homelessness, cities are not standing still. you are moving forward. so i want to say two things to you. number one, thank you. thank you for your leadership and your vision. and i particularly want to thank you because more than just about any other office in the land those who occupy the office of mayor are approaching it in a

practical way. democrats are not cleaning to dogmas and are partnering with businesses in any way they can and republicans are not clinging to their dogmas. they are recognizing the government has a role to play in helping make for a vibrant city and expanding opportunities, and that common sense problem-solving, can-do attitude , you know, that is what the american people are looking for. that is what they need. i want to say thank you to all of you. you are setting a good example. secondly, i also want to say do not stop now because we still have got a lot more work to do.

we have got to keep pushing to grow our economy so that more americans who work hard feel like their hard work is paying off, which is why i am working with congress to pass new 21st century trade agreements with higher standards and tougher standards than past agreements, and i appreciate the help of many of the mayors here to get that done because you know it is important to your city. [applause] i believe it is the right thing to do for american workers and families, or i would not be doing it. i want to thank all of you for helping you make that case because this matters to your cities. we have got to keep pushing to put people to work rebuilding our infrastructure. there is not a mayor here who cannot real off 10 infrastructure projects right now that you would love to get funding for, and it will put people to work and help businesses move their products and help people get to their jobs. [applause] we can keep paying the cost of passing over our existing

infrastructure. more expensive, less efficient leading the higher commute times, more waste -- that is an option. or we can create tens of thousands of jobs right now building a 21st century infrastructure that makes us competitive well into the 21st century. that is what we have got to do. we just have to convince congress to make it happen, and i need mayors to help from all across the country. put some pressure on congress to get this done! [applause] we have got to keep pushing to prepare for the impact of climate change because it is science. it is backed. like gravity. [laughter] -- it is fact. like gravity. [laughter] it is.

a lot of cities have gone far ahead on this issue, along with states. they are making a difference right now. you are not waiting for congress. mayor roy bureau is here. they have set a target to reduce their greenhouse gas omissions from 50% from 2003 levels by the end of the next decade. this man was governor, jerry brown, he was talking about how california, which so often has been a leader on environmental issues, is looking to partner and make a difference internationally. today, my administration proposed feel standards for buses and tractor-trailers and other heavy-duty vehicles, another important step toward reducing harmful carbons affecting our planet.

a lot of this does come down to congress. i know many of you are worried about congress cutting programs that are important to your cities' economic growth, but the battle we should be having with congress is not just about individual programs. it is about the fullest, self-destructive cut in washington known as the sequester. with the sequester the whole pie is smaller, so protecting one program means cutting another. that is why you are facing cuts that do not make any sense to things like tiger grants, which you all know are so important to putting people to work, rebuilding our infrastructure. that is why it is so hard for us to get the funding we need to get homeless assistance grants, which helps our most vulnerable neighbors, gets them off the streets. that is why it has been so difficult to fund the preschool

developed a grant, which help educate our children, which we know if we make better investments will pay off for your cities, for your states and for our country. i have been clear -- i will not sign bills at the sequestration level. i will not sign bills that seek to increase the fed spending before addressing any of our needs here at home. [applause] and i need your help. i need your help mayors. talk to your members of congress, get rid of this sequester once and for all because it is harming our city and harming our country. there is no business -- no successful business -- that if it needed to reduce spending would simply lop off 10% of everything, or 15% of everything.

that is not how any of us would run our household budgets. you would cut out things you do not need but you would still keep the college fund going. you would still pay your health insurance bill and your mortgage note. there are things we have to do as a country to stay ahead. once again, mayors understand that if there is a conflict between ideology and reality, you should opt for reality. [laughter] [applause] reality is a stubborn thing. facts, evidence, reason -- so,

thanks for your partnership. i want you to know that as long as i am in the white house, i have got your back. i love the country. i love the suburbs. but i am a city guy. [laughter] and i know that when cities thrive, suburbs thrive. when cities thrive, farmland thrive. twin cities thrive states thrive. when cities thrive america thrives. you guys make it happen. i enjoyed you taking pride in what makes your hometown unique. you may be proud and your people or your barbecues, even though everybody knows chicago has the best pizza. [laughter]

you may be proud of your city's victory parade, even though we have a black hawk parade that is pretty good. i am sure you are all very proud of your parks. we have got nice parks. or the number of sunny days you have got, which we enjoy half the year. [laughter] chances are you have got a few superlatives ready in case someone asks you what makes your city so special. that is what mayors do -- you are boosters. yet as unique as your cities are, as proud as you should be of your cities, we always remind ourselves we are also americans. and we all wanted america to be a place where our zip code does not determine our destiny. where every kid in whatever city, whatever hamlet, whatever

town has an equal shot at life no matter where they grow up. no matter who you are or where you come from, you can make it. that is what america is about that is what you are fighting for every day, and i will fight right there alongside with you. thank you, everybody. god bless you, god bless america. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪

>> president obama speaking in san francisco, heading two fundraisers to an eye, including house minority leader nancy pelosi. even though the two were publicly at odds over the fast-track trade agreement in congress. if you miss the president's remarks, you can watch them tonight. we will show them right here again on c-span at 8:00 eastern time.