bird every revolutionary who has existed on the planet. it didn't come from a planning book or a brochure. it came from someone's actual life. revolutionaries were people that saw something they could not stand for. people,ugh it is those i'm going to stand with them. even though i'm not a palestinian, i will stand with the palestinian's. even the line not gay, i will stand for someone else's equal right to marriage. even though we have seen the country become something else than what it was explained to us as children, that is the definition of confronting the mythology. saying, columbus did not discover america. that is absurd.

we need to take him on the maury show. america, you are not the father. want to say one last thing. the only reason i am nervous this time is because my family is here. they have never come to anything of mine. i want to tell you guys i love you and i and everything i am and will be because someone took the time to love me and care about me. [applause] immortal technique: i want to say also we are on the right side, ladies and gentlemen. illegal war, anti-drone, antiracism, anti-sex discrimination.

give ourselves a round of applause for being on the right side of every issue in this country. [applause] shertal technique: and now, is going to sing for us the national anthem. please. ms. franklin: he is a little too silly for me. i know we are short on time but there are two things i wanted to share. we talked about black lives matter and a black folks go into the street. know important for us to for the past 40 years, we have been in a counterrevolution. within the counterrevolution, often times black folks are seen as the center of oppression. let's make it clear, black folks have been at the center of having revolutionary thoughts and theories and have been at

the core of making and breaking a what we see is the counterrevolution. they have been the trailblazers. not only do we have black liberation, we also have a revolution. i want to make that clear when we think about black lives matter. at the always been occasion to fight back. thinkcond piece which i is important, and i do on an everyday basis. when we think about building a national left organization, what is central to me is organized. reallyversation didn't get that deep into who is going and knocking on doors. who is talking to our young folks, exposing them to different ideologies in the truth. exposing them to the years of miseducation they have been exposed to.

if there is one thing i want you to leave with, it is not simply we have had these debates but that that means nothing if we do not take it to the street and involve our people. if we do not have this room filled in the next year. it to theing, take street. organized. build. if we do not build, we do not grow. if we don't they are planning to fight back. only be ableo not to respond, but think ahead. and we cannot just, when something happens we were's aunt. we have to be the ones to prevent it. have a great night. -- was something happens, we

have to respond. immortal technique: a big round of applause for our host and moderator. ashley franklin and immortal technique. if we could give a big round of applause to the working class people who have to clean this place up after we leave. and the people who set up all of the microphones and lights and staff sitting up there and the dude with the camera was not moved in an hour. i see you buddy. rob: big love to our panelists. and madams. pamela brown. give it up. you could do better than that. glen ford. charles lenchner. the reverend.

and stanley, we wish you well and good luck. >> it's been years since the shooting of michael brown in ferguson, missouri. on the next "washington journal" we'll spike with police chief alfred durham about policing in that community. captain harvey powers leads the richmond police training academy. "washington journal" is live every morning at 7:00 a.m. on c-span. here is a preview of the show. >> what we have tried to train our recruits on obviously is not just the law enforcement, to protect themselves and society but also to engage the community in a positive way.

because we know without the community's help, many of the crimes that we have can't be solved and without the community's help we can't decrease the crime this the community. bringing the recruits out here into the community, they learn how to engage people without taking law enforcement action. they learn how to build positive relationships and part of recruits coming out here is ing in our community day events . officer goes into the community and when we're talking about into the community, we are talking about this community and he mosby court area. they are primary public housing community and tends to have the most violence in community. on june 6, we did a mosby court community day where i they served hamburgers and hot dogs and served them all free.

they had vendors out there with free h.i.v. tests. st last saturday, we had a community day just a block over at the calhoun summer. recruits were out here all day serving the public with the free food as well as entertainment for the residents. >> we'll be live from richmond, virginia, for a look at policing in inner cities and we'll speak with alfred durham and then harvey powers. "washington journal" live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. today georgian defense minister speaks at the u.s. institute of peace about her country's security. see her remarks live at 3:00 .m. eastern on c-span.

follow c-span cities tour as we travel touchdown washington belt way to communities across mesh. the idea behind the cities tour is to take the program out on the road beyond the belt way. to produce pieces that are more visual. >> a lot of people have heard the history of the big cities, new york, l.a., chicago. what about the small ones like albany, new york. what is the history of them? >> we have been to over 75 cities. we will have hit 75 in april of 2016. >> these are not event coverage types of pieces. they are shorter. they take you some place. they take you to a home. an historic site. we partner with our cable

affiliates. >> the key entry into the city is the cable operator who then contacts the city. in essence, it is the cable industry bringing us there. they are really looking for great characters. you really want your viewers to be able to identify with these people that we're talking about. >> it is an experience, a program where we're taking people on the road to place where is they can touch things, see things and learn about, you know, it is not just a local history because a lot of the local history really plays into the national story. >> if somebody is watching the this, it should be enticing enough that they can get the idea of the story but also fill -- feel this is just in our backyard. let's go see it. >> we want the viewers to get a sense that oh, yeah, i know that place just from watching one of our pieces. >> the c-span mission as we do with all of our coverage bleeds into what we do out on the road. >> we have to be able to

communicate the message about this network in order do this job. it has done one that i think that we wanted it to do which is build relationships with the city and our cable partners and gather some great programming for hearn history tv and book tv. >> american history tv and book v. >> this month marks the 109 anniversary of hurricane katrina. next, new orleans mayor mitch land rinch eu talks about the aftermath. he spoke tuesday at the national press club.

>> welcome to the national press club. my name is john husein editor for bloomberg first word, our breaking news desk here in washington, and i am president of the club. our guest today is new orleans mayor mitch landrieu, who joins us near the tenth anniversary of hurricane katrina. first i want to introduce our distinguished head table, which includes club members and guests f the speaker. from the audience's right, adam shapiro, c.e.o. of adam shapiro, ublic relations. pat mcgrath, former national correspondent for wttg-tv. and a former national press club oard member. bill lovelace, energy columnist for "usa today."

dr. karen desalvo, acting assistant secretary for health in the u.s. department of health and human services and a former health commissioner for the city f new orleans. she is a guest of our speaker. marilyn g. wax, senior business editor for national public radio and a national prep club board member. donna brazyll, a political strategist and syndicated columnist, a guest of the speaker and a new orleans native, and she served on the louisiana recovery authority. tommy burr, a reporter for the salt lake tribune and vice president of the national press club. skipping over our speaker for a moment, rod cuke row, a reporter with energy wire and a member of the club speakers committee who organized today's lunch. we thank you, rod.

i also want to mention that rod kukrow organized the national press club's katrina rebuilding trip in 2008. betsy fisher martin, washington editor of "more" magazine and a new orleans native. peter harkness, founder and publisher emeritus of "governing" magazine. glen marcus a freelance documentary film maker and member of the press club's press freedom committee. [applause] i also want to welcome our c-span and public radio audiences and you can follow today's lunch on twitter. use the hashtag npc live. that's npc live. hurricane katrina was the costliest natural disaster in the history of the united states. it forced the evacuation of nearly 90% of the residents of new orleans.

nearly 1,500 of them lost their lives. 15 feet of water covered many neighborhoods. five years later, the city's recovery was steady but slow. thousands of houses were vacant or uninhabitable. the pre-katrina economy had yet to reappear. that's when our speaker stepped up. he was louisiana's lieutenant governor at that time. he said he wanted to take over the recovery effort as the city's next mayor. this was a job that his father, moon landrieu, had held in the 1970's. when mitch landrieu was elected in 2010, he became the first white mayor of a black majority city in the united states since his father held office. he enjoyed broad support across racial and demographic lines. when he was re-elected in 2014, he nearly matched the 66%

winning percentage he had posted our years earlier. now as we near the tenth nniversary of katrina, data on tourism and the economy show new orleans in many respects is as strong as it was. a recent poll by the kaiser family foundation and national public radio found that many residents feel the city has made significant headway. at the same time the poll exposed deep racial disparities in the recovery. it also showed concern that the rich, cultural gumbo that makes the city special is changing. so where do we go from here? let's leave it for our speaker to tell us. ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm national press club welcome to new orleans mayor mitch landrieu. [applause]

mayor landrieu: thank you. thank you all, to the folks in the room and thank you to the head table. i thank you so much for having me. 10 years ago hurricane katrina hit the gulf coast and in the blink of an eye everything changed. american citizens, 1800 of our brothers and sisters, were killed. 1 million were displaced. 1 million homes were damaged. 250,000 were destroyed. communities were torn apart. and, in fact, scattered to the winds. in new orleans, the federal levees broke. infrastructure, man made failure of epic proportions that resulted in flood waters surging over the roof tops of a great american city. 80% of our city was under water. $150 billion in damages. in a moment everything -- everything was gone. homes, roads, schools, hospitals. police and fire stations.

grocery stores. parks. playgrounds. our lives as we knew them were gone. and as the flood water swallowed our neighborhoods, it became a life-or-death struggle for thousands who are still stuck in the cities. those stories are seared in our souls forever. the rushing flood pulling people under, survivors trapped for days with little or no help, hundreds on the roof tops, people trying to keep their heads above water, the blazing louisiana sun. american citizens crowded in front of the super dome in huddled masses at the convention center. more stranded in the port of st. bernard. floating, bloated bodies on the streets of america. our nation sat, jaw dropped, gaping at the images, considering the possibility that an entire city could be gone,

and wondering how in the world this happened in our beloved country. but in the midst of all of this death and all of this destruction, something else appened. the sun came up. and in the hours, days, and weeks that followed, another flood came. this time it was a torrent of people. louisiana state, department of wildlife and fisheries agent, and the u.s. coast guard, with our friends and our neighbors pulling thousands of people out of the water. at their side the cajun armada, a small navy of private vessels from all across coastal louisiana, recreational boaters of all kinds saving lives on the flooded streets of new orleans. and backing them up, a whole legion of people coming, literally, from everywhere. in came the national guard, the military, along with our policemen, our fire, e.m.s., medics, and other elite volunteers from coast to coast. literally within days, canadian mounties had boots on the ground

in the small city of gretna outside of new orleans. israeli relief workers followed, and countries from australia to qatar to the u.a.e. gave millions and sent supplies. the red cross, second harvest, salvation army, catholic charities, united way, habitat for humanity, and so many others united by faith, united by civic purpose rushed to our side and to our aid. and then together, together we started to clean up, sweating the heat, clearing away the devastation, and putting our lives back together. together, crying over photos that somehow escaped the deluge. together sleeping on church floors in tents. a mostly still dark city lit by amp fires, midwest and northeast accents blending in real nice with the southern drawl. from sea to shining sea americans helping americans, citizens helping citizens, neighbors lifting up neighbors.

it was a teacher in baton rouge showing kindness to a scared child on her first ever day of school outside of her city of new orleans, a nurse in atlanta who helped an evacuee get the medication, a landlord in shreveport who found places for families to stay. as former houston mayor bill white said, quote, people saw this as an opportunity for us to do something that was right for our country as well as for our fellow americans. it was one of our country's darkes moments but we found salvation, light, and hope from the angels among us. those angels made real for us the psalm of david that joy cometh in the morning. so now as we approach our tenth anniversary of katrina, we in new orleans want to remember all of those that we lost and we want to again count our blessings and, again, say thank you to those of you that helped

us survive. over the last 10 years new orleans has been through hell and high water. not just katrina but hurricanes katrina, rita, ike, gustav, the bp oil spill, and the national recession, all of it. but here's the thing. we won't bow down, because we don't know how. by our nature we are resilient. we are a hopeful people. in fact, even after all we've been through, a recent poll of new orleans residents done by the kaiser family foundation with n.p.r. found a whopping 78% of residents are optimistic about new orleans' future. so new orleans has gone from literally being under water to being one of the fastest growing major cities in america. with thousands of new jobs, new industries rapidly improving schools, rising property values, and a new, stronger flood protection that will reduce the risk from future hurricanes. our city has stood back up and this comeback is one of the world's most remarkable stories of tragedy and triumph,

resurrection and redemption in one word resilience. we are america's comeback city. in new orleans, necessity you see really was the mother of invention, and after katrina, it was do or die. the storm laid down a gauntlet and with this huge tragedy came a huge responsibility to make it right. during katrina many died and for many more the storm was a near death experience. it changed us and those who have endured such pain will tell you that when everything is slipping away, the natural instinct is to tighten your grip on that which used to be secure, struggling to hold on to just what was. but here's the thing. the people of new orleans took up the challenge that fate had laid at our feet, resolving not just to rebuild the city we once were but to create the city that we always dreamed she could be. to do it, we had to fight through the agony that comes with disaster and change. there's no doubt that our progress has been anything, anything but a straight

line. and, lord knows, we have a very, very long way to go. after all, the storm did not create all of our problems. our issues are generations in the making and shared by every other part of america. but after katrina i've often told an old cajun joke my dad used to tell me. budrow and thibodeau got a pilot to take them all the way to canada to shoot moose. they bagged six big old moose. as they were loading it on the plane to return the pilot said hey, men, you can't put all six of those moose on the plane. they're too heavy. we're going to crash. they said hey, pa, last year we hot six. the pilot let us take us in the same plane that you're flying right now.

the pilot gave up, got in the plane, took off. but even on full power the little plane couldn't handle the load and went down and crashed. miraculously, thibodeau and budrow survived the crash. they're lying in a pile of rubble. budrow sees thibodeau and says, hey, t., you have any idea where we are? thibodeau says, yeah. we're in the same place we was last year when we crashed. [laughter] that's just a little home cooking from the south. the point is obvious. it's especially clear after katrina. if we continue to do the same thing over and over again we should expect the same outcome. so after years of anxiety, after years of fits and starts, we made the decision to change. and what has yee merged on the other side is the premier example of urban innovation in america. because we had to. because we had to, new orleans has taken on the toughest challenges, showing the whole nation what it takes to make progress. forever proving that where there are new solutions to all of the old problems that we have. for example, 10 years ago new orleans schools were considered some of the worst in the country. two-thirds of our kids were in failing schools. now we've moved past what was a isbroken, top down system, and

created a new way defined by choice, defined by equity, defined by accountability. i hope we can join together to celebrate the remarkable progress that's been made for our kids. i want to thank all of our parents, our students, our teachers, our administrators. both those from new orleans and those who have moved in to help more recently. they've worked tirelessly on behalf of our kids. today nearly every student attends a public charter school and families use today have only one choice for their kids can now apply to nearly every school in the city. in new orleans, geography is no longer a kid's destiny and we've raised the bar insisting schools serve every child because in new orleans we know every child can learn and every child has the right to a great education. in addition, we said our kids need clean, healthy, safe school buildings. so now $1.8 billion of federal funds is being invested to rebuild, renovate, and refurbish nearly every school in the city. that means outstanding new learning spaces to help our kids thrive and realize their god

given potential. before katrina the achievement gap between the kids in new orleans and the rest of the state was over 25 points. now that gap has nearly closed. before katrina the graduation rate hovered around 50%. now 73% are graduating on time. fewer kids are dropping out. more kids enrolling in college. all told, this year's hundreds of new orleans seniors have earned over $75 million in scholarships at over 300 different colleges and universities. one of these high school graduates is a kid named jiron. a few years ago he wasn't going to pass the tenth grade let alone go to college. his mom and dad sold drugs. unfortunately they both went to prison. as you can imagine he struggled. then he enrolled in one of the new schools with a special focus on college. for him and for us it has made all the difference. jiron said and i quote, "in life you have two choices, to be defeated or to conquer." he said, "i choose to cong oiu" and he did. this fall he'll be a freshman at morehouse college and a great shoutout for this historically

black college and university who this year graduated 400 new leaders for the rest of america and i say go maroon tigers. i'm really proud of them. thank you. [applause] mayor landrieu: his story is inspiring but it's just one example of a very real impact of our new system of schools. however, that is not to say we are anywhere close to perfect. anyone that comes to new orleans can see that we have a long way to go. but we're improving faster than anywhere else in america. besides schools we've tackled improving health care delivery system as well. 10 years ago if a kid got an earache his mama had to take him to the emergency room at charity hospital, sit there for 13 hours just to get him checked out. now in new orleans we say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and a network of neighborhood health clinics initially funded by a federal grant after katrina have endured. i am so happy to see one of the

principal architects of this new system with us today, dr. desalvo, a former health commissioner of new orleans and now president obama's acting assistant secretary for health and human services. [applause] mayor landrieu: because of karen's hard work and a lot of other folks and so many people today new orleans has the st. thomas health, community health center. prevention is the name of the game. soup-to-nuts health care in the noobhood from chronic disease management to pediatrics with a focus on women's health. that means thousands of mammograms done every year at st. thomas. lives being saved through prevention. all told, neighborhood health centers like st. thomas serve 59,000 patients across the region every year who would otherwise get much more expensive health care at emergency rooms. add this to the billions we are investing right now in building two world-class hospitals right downtown the heart of new orleans. one for veterans at the new va hospital, and the other is the new university medical center.

for generations to come, our honored veteran warriors will get the care they need in the care they deserve. taken altogether, ours is a real model for the rest of the country. it works. 10 years ago, katrina was the last straw which broke the back of an economy that had been struggling for 40 years. now, we are creating thousands of new jobs and spurring promising new industries like water management, digital media, and bioscience. world-class companies like ge capital are expanding in new orleans. but here's the thing. we can't leave anybody behind. in new orleans, we help entrepreneurs like a young man with a dream to open his own business. a grocery store in the lower ninth ward. he got support from the city, and now he has done it. it's on cabin streets. this is the exact spot where 12

feet of water set for weeks, following the levee breach. and at our hub fraudulent reviewers call the idea village, new vibrant entrepreneur ecosystems have emerged where talented people can get the training to support what they do to turn big ideas into new businesses, with new jobs. plus, in new orleans, we are in the midst of a retail and restaurant boom. no other place in the world would lose 100,000 people and gain 600 more restaurants than we had before katrina. but we did. and only in new orleans. these businesses are opening and thriving neighborhoods where top of the new private investment, more than $1 billion in a formal housing is either available or coming online. 14,430 affordable rental units for low income families are there. new orleans is notorious big for public housing development, which were run down and were dangerous, they did not give the people of new orleans with a need or what they deserved. so we converted this public housing into mixed-income

communities with amenities like schools, health care, and transit. we can see this at the old st. bernard development. now known as columbia park. the st. bernard was one of the oldest public housing development in new orleans. first built by the roosevelt administration during the depression. over the years, it had fallen on hard times, and by the time katrina hits, 25% of the 1300 units were empty and the area was known for its violence. and in the levees broke. as the sun rose the day after the storm passed, the st. bernard development was 10 feet underwater. like everything else, we resolved to build back st. bernard, not as it was, but like it always should have been, and the way people deserved. now columbia park is a world-class example of mixing come public housing that embraces public by the partnerships and true place-based development. the massive plan for the neighborhood includes newly built schools, early childhood learning centers, a recreation facility, library, playgrounds, retail, and green space area crime is now way down in columbia park.

in fact, since katrina, we made tremendous progress that a wide on crime reduction. and this is good. when i took office, the murder rate still lead the nation. through our comprehensive murder reduction strategy called nola for life, we put a special focus on prevention, care to tough enforcement. last year, new orleans had a 33 year low for murder, but we still have a very long way to go on this issue. this year, unfortunately, across the nation and in new orleans, murder is taking up. with nearly 15,000 americans lost every year to murder in this nation, a disproportionate number of young african american men, it's clear that this crisis goes well beyond new orleans. it is a national disgrace, and a moral outrage that so many american citizens are killed on the streets of america every day. stopping murder should be a national priority. black lives do matter. and we should act like it in america. [applause]

mayor landrieu: but across the board, fighting crime in preventing murder is just one part of the criminal justice system. 10 years ago, when katrina hit, there were 6000 inmates in orleans parish prison. it was a prime example of mass incarceration at its worst. we were the most incarcerated city in the most incarcerated state in the most incarcerated world in the country. and now, we are pushing back against mass incarceration like numerals in the country. we've cut the prison population down to 1800 inmates, a two thirds reduction. we have sought to be tough and smart on crime, at the same time. lock up the violent bad guys who threaten everybody, but make fewer unnecessary arrests. provide alternatives to incarceration, pretrial services, improve case processing times, great wraparound services for the citizens returning home so they don't go back. there must be justice, there must be peace.

black lives matter, whether they are being lost to shooting, or to years in prison. we are also making tremendous progress on combating homelessness in the city of new orleans. in the years after the storm, we had 11,000 homeless. we became the first city in america to functionally end veteran homelessness. we have a long way to go. but we are making great progress. finally, new orleans has become a global leader in emergency preparedness. 10 years ago, none of us were prepared for a storm like katrina and we suffer the terrible consequences. now everyone is on the same page, and preparations are both wide and deep. in partnership with a local not-for-profit, we developed a city assisted evacuation plan. during a mandatory evacuation, local, state, the federal officials along with the faith-based community and community organizations are seamlessly coordinated. we provide transportation to

residents unable to self evacuate and have extensive special-needs registry so we can take care of the bedridden and sick. since katrina, we had a broader cultural shift. and now emergency preparedness has become ingrained in our daily lives. if you drive around new orleans, you will see 16 large public art displays scattered across the city. we call these landmarks evacu-spots. physical symbols of our preparedness. there are other physical manifestations of the continued renaissance. $1.63 billion being invested to reinvigorate neighborhoods with new roads, new parks, new playgrounds, new community centers. $320 million for public transit of a structure, and we're about to break ground on our new airport. new orleans is on a roll. and like 78% of our residents, i'm optimistic about our future.

but, we have the time unfinished business, and just like throughout the last 10 years, our ongoing future efforts will be supported by our partners. one of these key partners is with us today. the rockefeller foundation. through rockefeller's 100 resilient cities initiative, next week we unveiled a new long-term resilience strategy that by 2018 will ensure the new orleans is a global model for resilience in the 21st century. we are already on our way with new modern infrastructure and levees, with the bp oil spill settlement and new federal state revenue sharing taking effect, we finally have partial payment for hardening our assets and rebuilding the important coast. most of the rest of the money should come from the oil companies. they helped break it, they need to help fix it. really, all americans have a stake in the future of our coast, because contrary to popular belief, gas is not come from the pump. it comes from us.

every year, the gulf coast via louisiana provides america with more oil and gas and we import from saudi arabia. we are the tip of the spear when he comes energy independence. as we protect louisiana's coast, we also protect america, our economic security, and our national security. here's the thing. to be truly resilient, we can just build up levees against storms. or change how we live with water to protect the wetlands, as important as those are. we need to do all those things. but to be truly resilient, as a society, it means combating other stresses, like poverty, inequality, violence, racism. to be truly resilient, we must go deeper and create a city that can adapt and thrive, no matter what may happen, with climate change of the global economy. that means a government with a regional mindset which can both respond to a shock like hurricane katrina, and prepare people for the future. that means a 21st century

education system, broad-based economic growth so there's a pathway to prosperity that anyone can follow and no one is left hind. that means being inclusive of everyone in the community. breaking down the walls that divide us and coming together in unity. our goal is nothing less than to create a city of peace, of opportunity and responsible -- responsibility for all. a city for the ages. we are not there yet, and we are far from perfect. but the people of new orleans are committed to their city. and we know we are on the right path. indeed, this is what we do as americans. we work hard, we dream of something more, some thing better. we should always remember our history in its totality. and remember how far we as a people have come. in 1776, the aspirational words found in our declaration of independence they all men are created equal. it certainly rang hollow to many, and must've been especially ironic to the slaves. for them, neither liberty nor equality were in reach of that

time. for more than two centuries of tumultuous change, we have made progress in millions of ways. but still, this is the big message the nation should take away from what we saw 10 years ago at the superdome, and the more recent unrest on the streets of baltimore, ferguson, and across america. we have still fallen short. we still have not filled the promise of being one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. but we can get there. as we turn the corner on the 10th anniversary of katrina, and look forward to new orleans's third anniversary is a city, our challenge is we have a long way to go. it's critical to understand where we are in the broader context, sitting in the deepest of the deep south states. once called the nation's backwater. that backwater has changed.

and now new orleans has become a beacon of light. the capital of what some have called the new south. i believe that the south will rise again. but not the old south. the old south of slavery, civil war, confederate flags, monuments the review of the confederacy, separate but equal, i'll go my way, you go yours -- that south is gone. the new south, led by new orleans, is a place where diversity is our greatest strength, not a weakness in where our collective energy is combined to form some thing that benefits everyone. the place to understand the totality of history and importance of culture. faith, family, friends. a place which combines old and new into something truly special that people want to be a part of. a place that understands what it means to come together in unity and wrestle with the good, the bad, and yes, everything in between. at the mouth of the mighty mississippi river, we new orleans lie at the heart of this ongoing struggle. but we have shown what's possible. that from the worst disaster that can be rebirth, out of despair, there can be hope. out of darkness, there can be light.

out of destruction, beauty. hope must bring eternal. faith is the motivator of all the seems lost. and with your help, we have changed. so on behalf of the people of new orleans, i say thank you. thank you to the american taxpayer, thank you to the federal government. thank you to president obama, bush 41 and 43, president clinton, and president carter for their work. thank you all for your support and your prayers when we needed them most. thank you for caring for us during our time of need. thank you for donations, thank you for your support. thank you for caring about the city that care forgot. we are unbowed, and we are unbroken. we new orleans will press on, one step at a time. we are one team, we are one fight, we are one city, we're one united states of america. thank you, very much. [applause]

john: thank you, mr. mayor. we invite you to come back up now for some question-and-answer. you noted the progress that has been made, and you mentioned the challenges remain. of the things you are still working on and that haven't come back yet, what are the one or two things that bother you the most? the biggest challenge is that you still face? mayor landrieu: there are more than one or two. one of the things we've spent a lot of time on the last five years is structurally changing and institutionally changing the way new orleans addresses long-term chronic robins. there's a great article written about detroit that said detroit and go bankrupt overnight. it took 40 or 50 years. one of the things we concentrate on is changing the institutions and governments, changing our

relationship with the public private sector, digging down deep and tearing out the foundations that created bad results. as a consequence, we are now much better at being able to resolve the issues that were with us before the storm. and we share the same issues with every other major city in america. the city of new orleans, crime continues to be a problem. we have too much of it. we need to get better at it. blight reduction continues to be a tremendous challenge, even though we have taken down more blighted and -- than any city in america. we taken down about 15,000 properties in three years. have a system that is moving in the right direction. because of the new system, we have people complying. blight are private citizens that did not come back to take care of the property and left it to everyone else. the economy, although it continues to do better, you have to continually be vigilant.

and within that framework that i mentioned, and the npr show -- poll show this. notwithstanding the fact that 78% of the people are optimistic about the future of new orleans, that doesn't mean everyone is happy about the situation they are in today. the continues to be in new orleans, like there is all over america, this is now being discussed in the presidential campaign of the under the guise of income inequality, opportunity and equality, people talk about it in different ways. it's clear that some americans are doing better than others. my best guess is that the numbers you see in new orleans would be almost identically reflected in some of the other major cities in america and across our country. we have to continue as we redesigned the city of new orleans, to be prepared for the same kind of difficulties that we are seeing all across america. i would put them in generally the same category. the education system, although we have made tremendous press enter moving in the right direction, is not perfect. there were holes in it that we have to continue to work on. we will do so in the same way, and with the same amount of intensity and aggressive leaning

forward that we have done in the past couple of years. john: is it your sense that the npr kaiser poll that you just represented was accurate in finding the large disparities between whites and african-americans in their view of the recovery? another questioner says i noticed on a recent visit to new orleans, i noticed extensive gentrification of many formally black neighborhoods. is this good for the city in the long run? -- extensive gentrification in many formally black neighborhoods. mayor landrieu: polls have a lot of good information. this was a well-done poll. i think it is an accurate repetition of how people in new orleans feel. it is very good to get a poll that says 78% of the public thinks you are heading in the right direction. or 73% feel good about the recovery.

that is a very positive thing. but that poll, again, revealed difficulties that we not only have a new orleans, but all across the country, about the difference between poor people in wealthy people, african-americans who don't have an african-americans that do have. my sister donna will tell you a lot, and remind you may the best quote of the entire katrina surge was general honore, who said when it gets hot, the poor get hotter, and when it gets cold, the poor get colder. the damage was $150 billion, the amount of reimbursement was less than that. there is a gap. what we found in rebuilding the city is those who had got back faster than those who had not. that does come across racial lines in some way. it has as much to do with class. we have 73 neighborhoods in the city of new orleans. you will see a good many of them, black and white, have come back and done well. some of them have not, most particularly, the lower ninth ward. even though we invested $500

million with new schools, new community centers, new fire stations, continues really the struggle. that is going to be an issue that we mayors across the country really have to think about in terms of rebuilding our relationship with the federal and state governments because we believe we are partners in that. and that partnership has frayed over the last 15 or 20 years. as congress fights about the things they fight about and hopefully pass and infrastructure bill quickly because we need it, we have to get to the next big issue of how we are going to integrate cities into the lifeblood of the relationship between the federal, state, and local governments. 85% of the people of america live in cities. the demographic trends have completely reversed and people are moving back into cities. we are going to have the same kind of challenges as the rest of the nation is going to have. i think we are in a better position now to deal with those things, if, again, you got to earn this every day. stop being vigilant and stop

showing up, he can go back. it's not quite a be as good. we've got to keep at it. john: how prepared is new orleans to respond to another storm like katrina, if there is one? is the hurricane protection of a -- hurricane protection infrastructure strong enough? mayor landrieu: i'm going to put my parochial hat on. the levees broke. this was not a natural disaster. this was a man-made disaster. if a category five, rolling in a 12 miles per hour of speed, that has wind over 100 d miles an hour hits any city in america, you should hope you would've gone by then. i think hurricane sandy demonstrated to us that we have many, many, many vulnerable cities. and on the scale of new orleans, new orleans isn't on the top. i think miami is number one, charleston is up there, new york is up there. i've said many times, defense of our great city, it's had ridiculous things said about it by seemingly educated people, that the storm did not hit us because we were bad people.

it just didn't. i know there's this modern myth about that. because you can get a to go cup on bourbon street for 24 hours, sometimes hurricane came and wanted to smack you. that is really not what happened. we have lots of hurricanes the come in and out of the southern part of the country, they come in and go out, they are a wind events. i don't want to out anybody, but sometimes people have wine parties on their porch. [laughter] mayor landrieu: the wind comes in and it goes out. catastrophe did not occur until the federal levees designed by the federal government broke. new orleans is a canary in a coal mine for this country, for those of you that are too young to understand that, please ask your parents. [laughter] mayor landrieu: on infrastructure investments, on income inequality, housing, all of that stuff, the rest of the country can learn from the things that new orleans suffered

through. and then learn, hopefully, from the ways we learn to fix them as we have paid the debt back to you over time. the third thing is this. the city is much safer than it was, in terms of hurricane protection before. we have spent 14.6 billion federal dollars on fortifying the levees what we call category three standards. if another event came in just like this one, at the same speed at the same time, we have really good reason to believe that we would be fine. having said that, that is not an invitation, when the mayor calls for mandatory evacuation in new orleans or new york, or in south carolina, to think that we're going to beat mother nature. you're not. hurricane evacuation plan is better. our building plans are better. but this is where the coast comes into. the coast that you hear us talk so much about that protects the oil and gas infrastructure and the nation's national security and energy security also protects the physical space of new orleans because as the storms come in, if that coast retreats, the storm surges higher and that storm is not only the protector of the

cultures of the people that live there, it's also the buffer for new orleans. the coast is important, the levees are important, the rebuilding is important. having a plan is important, all of those things, that's why the corps of engineers called a risk reduction strategy. you can't guarantee you are not going to get hurt, but new orleans is much better prepared and much stronger. john: do you believe that the bp oil spill is still having a negative effect on the buyers and coastal environment of louisiana? if so, what is being done to counter any long-term effects of this spill? mayor landrieu: as i started the speech, i tried to remind everybody that the city of new orleans, at the time, we were a massive tourism destination, had suffered dramatically after the attacks of 9/11. the whole tourism economy went to nothing, and we were in a weakened state. we just got back up after three years of devastation. then katrina hit us and three weeks later, rita hit us, then ike, than gustav, than the

national recession, then the bp oil spill. a lot of lives lost in the bp oil spill. an untold amount of more physical damage that was done, i would say that our relationship with bp has been somewhat strange since then. i think that there is residual damage from the storm. i do think the recently, bp and the state of louisiana, and most of the litigants, have now resolve their differences. i think that we are on the path to cleaning up and making sure that not only does that never happen again, but that the money that is coming down through the amount of money that bp has to pay fines, through the restore act that senator landrieu past, the fair share act, that we have now accumulated a portion of money that is necessary to fund the master plan for restoring the coast and for cleaning up the coast.

we have a very long way to go on both of these things, and there's not enough money in it to actually make it happen. louisiana has been an historic fight, led by my sister, senator landrieu, on the shoulders of people going back forever to make sure that if we offer ourselves to the rest of the country as a place that will provide oil and gas, that we have to give revenues back to restore that which we bust up. this may seem it's common sense that we've kind of lost. you can drill, but you have to restore. that's called being a good steward of a natural resource. we are not in the debate of drill, don't drill. we have found a way to do that, and trying to find a way for the fisheries and authentic cultures and oil and gas -- everybody has got to be doing for the purpose of helping the people of louisiana and the people of the country. it is only to benefit other folks and shareholders. you don't put money back into a to fix it, then you are going to basically give away the possibility of future energy independence for the country. we don't want to do that.

i don't believe that yet we have had a complete communion between the private sector and the public sector, washington, the state, new orleans about how to come up with a complete solution. i think we're well on our way, i believe that our relationship would bp has gotten much better. i think now folks are starting to come to the table. but i don't think we are there yet. i do think if they are the day, what has to be about as preserving the livelihoods of the people that live in louisiana, that work in the industry, protect the land so that the nation can be energy secure and economically secure. john: you have a group of civilian officers that handle quality-of-life issues and crimes, and was created in 2014. it was touted as a way to help make the streets safer for residents and tourists alike. the first patrols have been on the streets for some months now, have a had any real effect on crime? mayor landrieu: they are not

police officers, and they were never meant to supplant police officers. they were meant to take away the mundanedo monday and -- things that enforcement folks could do so police officers can actually fight crime. i think they have made a great difference. one of the things that was a challenge for us and continues to be a challenge in the french quarter -- as you know, is a residential neighborhood, a business neighborhood, and received a lot of tourists, is to make sure the laws given force so there could be safety and civility on the streets and traffic can keep moving. many of you have seen this in new york. some of the officers are in police uniforms and they actually have a traffic division just like the one we just created that is designed to make sure that the quality-of-life issues are taken care of, the traffic is moving so police officers themselves can work on violent crime. we had great success in the french quarter. we continue to have challenges in the city of new orleans related to crime, just like we do all over america.

in this instance, protecting the french quarter is critically important. but so is protecting every neighborhood in the city. we have 73 of them. i want to protect all the tourists who come in town, i want to protect the resident there. we are making great progress. we have been under a federal decree for five years, the city has been forced by the justice department to pay most of that by ourselves. we continue to work with the judge, and with federal monitors to retrain, supervise, and hire more police officers. we will continue to do that. that's like fixing the plane while it's flying in midair. not an easy proposition. i feel good about the progress we have made. like anything else, i would say it's a work in progress and we have a ways to go. john: what are you doing to improve police community relations, particularly in the african-american community? mayor landrieu: that is a great question. in new orleans, we always spend a lot of time on this. you see this manifesting itself all across the country. when there is an event that

takes place between a police officer and a citizen, there is a fraying that is just evident all over america. in new orleans, we spent a lot of time with community leaders. we have come in each police district, something called coco officers. quality-of-life coordinating officers. we have advisory boards in every police district we have trade we have regular meetings with the faith-based communities. to make sure that they know who the captive in their district is, who the commander is that oversees their cabin. our police chief himself is an elder in his church, who spends a huge amount of time across the community, and staying in touch makes a big difference. the people of new orleans have demonstrated time and time again that they are amazingly resilient, and thoughtful and reasonable. we have had a couple of police involved shootings. one of them resulted in the

arrest of a police officer. and he is serving time because he did a bad thing. one of them did not, because the circumstances indicated that there were guns that were drawn, the police officer was trying to defend himself. in both instances, after the shootings, the justice system worked. the independent police monitor showed up, the federal police monitor showed up, there was an open, transparent analysis of what happened. there was due process, and that justice was done. and in those circumstances, when you have that, everybody is fair-minded about it. i'm not saying that in all instances, the families are always happy with the police are always happy, the system of making sure that there is equality and fair judgment, and a fair look, that justice was done is something i think we've got right in new orleans in the last five years. everybody knows about the events that took place during katrina. those matters have been winding through the court system. in some instances, those things

are still pending. those things are still pending. but there is dramatic difference now in this police department and the work that we are doing. this issue is not just about police and the community. it lays on top of economics. it lays on top of geography. when we start talking about crime in america, this is not just about the police showing up after the fact and whether or not they arrest or secure appropriately, although that is important. there is a much deeper task that the united states has to do as it relates to making sure that everybody in america has an opportunity to do well. i don't think that we have really scratched the service on this, and quite frankly i don't think that we really talk about it easily. race is really something that scares us. in way we like to say this new orleans, is you can't go

under it, you can't go it. you have to go through it. think in this country as much as we have aspired to be in a post-racial world, it is pretty clear that we are not there yet. i think we can get there. i think there is demonstrable evidence giving what is going on in south carolina, across the south, people really are ready, although it is really hard and there are histrionics on both sides, to have a discussion. finally i would say this. not an either or between the community and the police. we have to get back to where the community and the police are one . i think a lot of police officers feel under assault in this country. in many instances there are bad police officers who have done bad things. but most of them do the right thing for the right reason. the same thing is true of the community. soberk the really conversation that is taking place in the u.s. conference of

mayors, i think it is a problem that we know we can solve because it has not always been this way. do you have any authority to pardon or commute sentences of nonviolent drug offenders and if not would you support that? i don't have any authority to do that. i will say this. when i was lieutenant governor, i lead something called the juvenile justice reform commission. it was designed to look at the juvenile justice system and determine whether or not we were arresting the wrong people or not arresting the right people. whether we were spending our money the right way. the statey looked at of missouri and found that they were thinking about it right. what they found was that we were arresting the wrong kids for the wrong reasons and putting them in the wrong place, and not arresting the right kids.

we wants to get a good result, and the recidivism rate was higher. it turns out that exact thing is happening in the adult prison system in america as well. as a consequence, i am really hard and by the work i'm seeing on the federal level. this is one level where actually the feds are outpacing the states. you have a bipartisan coalition, funded by the koch brothers, and some other folks that have come together, and have decided that we have it upside down. a lot of it has nothing to do with the violence criminals that are committing violent crimes. this has to do with people that are committing nonviolent crimes for a whole bunch of reasons that did not get appropriate mental health or substance abuse treatments. the consequences fairly dramatic. judge basically ordering the people of the city to now offer mental care for prisoners. we are about to spend more money on a few people that are incarcerated where if we spent

one half of it on the outside of the jailhouse doors, the circumstance of the 1000% better. the consequence of those kinds of policies that are not really lining up with the people that are in prison. , just number of people a cost per day for taxpayers, a lot of money. that's cheaper. that makes him get healthy. that makes the streets safer. it reduces the recidivism rate. why in the world would you not want to have a serious discussion about that? this is one thing i think we are ready to talk about in this country, and i am very hopeful that the state of louisiana on the state level will participate. i am very encouraged by it. i would like to participate. as he ended the day the streets have to be safe but we have to be smart and we have to make sure that when folks come out of jail we don't put them in jail so they can just go right back.

that does not seem prudent and it is not good for the streets. john: this questioner says visitors and residents frequently use it -- lose a hubcap or their front and alignments of driving over new orleans streets. is there any plan to systematically tackle this problem? [laughter] host: -- i am mayor landrieu: i am tempted to tell you a story. sworn and i i was went to talk to my father. i said do you have anything you want to tell me? he says yes. tomorrow you have to fill every pothole in the city. never was a more pressing things said by one man to another. moreve literally repaved stories in new orleans in the

last three years than most mayors have in the history of the city. the city was wiped out. if you go down any major street , ithe city, and by the way costs $7 million a mile to retake the city. it would equal $9 billion if we were to fix all them. because we had limited resources that is what we focused on. almost every major city -- almost every major street in the city has been done. i hope maybe we will get an award for that. what it does not really matter. it might matter to somebody at government magazine that we do that, but it does not matter to the person who was still next door to the one house that is blighted. the city of new orleans, as you know, was built on a swamp. we have terrible interior streets. the truth of the matter is we have been rebuilding all this up cities from schools to airports,

we have got a major problem with interior streets. which by the way are sitting on top of the sewer system that was destroyed by katrina that is losing 40% of its water. i am still in a fight with the federal government about making sure that they reimburse us adequately so that we can actually put that plan together that you asked me about that will allow us to in part begin to put the interior streets back together. that negotiation has not been done. has been a really good partner but they don't give you anything. you have to wrestle and you have to make your case because the american public has a right to make sure that we do not get reimbursed for anything they are not entitled to. they have a right to make sure that we are reimbursed for everything we are entitled to. that is the next long-term plan. goes finally did something the u.s. conference of mayors has talked a lot to congress about. every mayor in america says it and every congressman says it

but no one will vote for. lack of infrastructure in this country and lack of investment is making is noncompetitive with other major countries. airport,rue about roads, bridges, interior and exterior streets. we are way behind. this is something we really have to work on in this country that is going to require a national conversation and a federal ownership. they are not necessarily the same thing but they both matter. across a clarion call ideology. republican mayors, democratic mayors. big mayors, small mayors. they are yelling out to congress, the one thing we all agree on is passed some infrastructure investment so that we can compete on a global level. john: before i asked the final question i have some housekeeping. the national press club is the world's leading organization for journalists. to learn more about the club .org. our website, press

press.oonate visit rg/institute. this thursday, august 20, rick santorum wilson -- what rick santorum will discuss his immigration plan. and on september 5 the press club will hold its annual 5k to raise money for journalism scholarships, training, and press freedom. i would now like to present our guest with the traditional mug.nal press club i think there are many suitable

beverages you could enjoy in new orleans with that mug. we won't even list them all because it would take too long. louisiana is well known for its colorful politicians. in your opinion how does donald trump compare with governor haley long and former governor edwin edwards? [laughter] mayor landrieu: first of all, let me say this. somethingyou did really courageous in south carolina and i hope that elected officials across -- [applause] mayor landrieu: i hope elected officials across the south put that behind us and to do it in a way that make the south stronger. the south has a lot to offer the united states of america. meant it without competition, that we could actually lead the nation. what we have got to put down this issue have race. we have got to mention that everyone in this country feels

included. i am really just thankful to her for leading that effort and look forward to partnering with her to talk about with the new south look like for the rest of the country. donald trump would fit in real good with edwin edwards. i mean, one of the things we have done in louisiana is kind of added some color to the world cultural. think aboutat you the donald you have to say he is spicing it up. he would fit in real good where they make tabasco sauce. come on down to louisiana. we would love to see him. [applause] john: how about a round of applause for our speaker? [applause] john: mr. mayor, i hope you come back and see us sometime soon. i would also like this -- to thank the national press club staff for organizing today's

events. if you would like a copy of today's program, or to learn more about the club, go to that website. that is press.org. thank you, we are adjourned. [applause] [indiscernible] >> we will move to the white house here on c-span. up next, remarks of senator marco rubio at the iowa state

fair. that ohio governor john kasich. on this morning's washington journal we are in richmond, virginia to talk about policing strategies in inner cities. >> this week on first ladies, influence and image, we learn about ellen and edith wilson. as first lady ellen wilson oversaw the creation of the rose garden and improve housing conditions for the poor in washington dc. after a year and a half serving as first lady she felt really ill and passed away. president woodrow wilson remarries eight at wilson and he suffers from a stroke, taking her primary role as first lady has companion. she also became the first first lady to travel to europe. ellen and edith wilson. this sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's original series. verse ladies, influence and image. examining the public and private lives of the women who filled the position of first lady and

their influence on the presidency. from martha washington to michelle obama. ondays at 8 p.m. eastern american history tv on c-span3. q&a,is sunday night on residential historian curt dion documents his adventures visiting the gravesites of every u.s. president and vice president. site that great everyone has trouble getting to for ford.kefeller we were able to get through it -- do it through an act of god. my father walked farther down through the cemetery and saw that this gigantic tree had fallen. he went in and actually saw nelson rockefeller's grave and decided that we would have to get me down fairly quickly after that. >> sunday night at eight about eastern and specific -- pacific on c-span q&a. >> now remarks from senator

marco rubio at the iowa state fair. the florida republican spoke about immigration at this presidential candidate's forum hosted by the des moines register. [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] i want you to do for your children what my parents did for me. my parents came from cuba, they barely spoke the language, had no money and very little education. they were able to buy a home and raise a family, they were able to retire with dignity and leave all four children better off than themselves. what i am worried about, americans feel like they can no longer achieve that. the world is changing and our policies must change with it.

we are not just facing an economic downturn. we are facing an economic transformation. it's just like the industrial revolution, except it is happening faster and it is deeper. the jobs that once sustained the middle class have gone overseas and they do not pay what they once did. many people feel locked out from the promise of the greatest nation on earth. there is no reason we cannot fix this. america remains a great country. it can be even greater. the 21st century can be greater than the 20th century. but there are things we need to do. the first thing we need to do, we need to modernize our economic policy to compete with the world. there are dozens of countries that compete with us for the best jobs, the best new businesses, the best ideas. and we have tax policies and regulatory policies and national debt holding us back.

we are not fully utilizing our energy resources. we have to repeal our health care law and replace it with something that gives every american the opportunity to buy what ever health coverage they want. if we do this, america will create millions of the best jobs the new century has. which leads me to the second thing we need to do. we need to modernize higher education. we cannot continue with a 20th century system that tells people you either get a four-year degree or nothing at all. for many, that degrees and accessible. for millions more, they are borrowing money to pay for those degrees and they still can't find a job. we need more people trained to be welders and airplane mechanics and machinist's. these are good paying jobs. somehow we have stigmatized them as a country.

a welder makes more than a political science major and we need to train more young americans to do it. it the second thing we need is flexible higher education. for example a single mother who raids two kids and works full-time for nine dollars an hour as a home health aide. the only way she will get a job is to -- you will get a raise is to get a job as a dental hygienist or paralegal. and to do that just go back to school, but she can't because she has to raise a family. we need programs that allow people to get the equivalent of a degree and alternative institutions that allow them to package learning no matter how they acquired it. let people learn online for free. give them credit. suddenly that receptionist, instead of making $10 or $12 an hour can be a paralegal making $65,000 a year. i'm not saying we will get rid

of four-year colleges. after all, how will we get college football without them? [laughter] senator rubio: i am saying this. we can't keep graduating people with degrees that do not lead to jobs. that is why i believe before you take out a student loan, the school should tell you how much people make when they graduate from that school with that degree. so, you can decide if it is worth borrowing $50,000 for a major and greek philosophy. after all, the job market for greek philosophers has been very tight for a thousand years. north korea is run by a lunatic. vladimir putin is challenging nato. in the middle east, radical jihad-ism spreads across multiple -- multiple countries. iran is on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon and long-range rockets capable of

striking us. the most important obligation of the federal government is keep you safe and be safe in her family safe and it's not doing that now because we have eviscerated our defense bending. we have a navy and air force smaller and older than it has been in decades. we cannot continue to do these things. we must fix this. we must improve our defenses so we remain the most powerful military force in the world and we must have a policy of clarity, one that makes it clear to our allies we are with them, not our adversaries. one that makes it clear our nation will do what ever it takes to make sure the only pro-american democracy in the middle east, the state of israel, prospers and survives as a jewish state. we can do all three of these things. if we do, the 20th century will be the greatest era that america

has ever known. i will close by saying this. i america does not only anything. but i have a debt to america i will never repay. this is a nation that literally change the history of my family. when my father was nine years old as a young boy in the streets of havana, his mother died and it nine years of age, he had to go to work and leave school. he would never go back to school. he would work for the next 70 days of -- 70 years of his life. when he was a young man, he had dreams. they became impossible. his dream became to give us the chance he never could. he worked primarily as a banquet bartender. he worked so we would have the chance to do the things he never could. a journey my family was able to make in this country. the journey from that bar in the back of the room to the soapbox here today. that journey is the essence of the american dream. it is what makes our nation's special. it is what makes our nation different. as americans, we are all a generation or two removed from someone who did that for us.

we are called upon to make sure the american dream does not just survive, but it reaches more people and changes more lives than ever before. we are called not just to keep america special in great, but greater than it ever has been. if we can achieve these things, we will go out in history as the next great american generation. we will go down in history as the authors of a new american century and we will leave for our children what our parents left for us, the single greatest nation man has ever known. i thank you for coming out and braving the rain and maybe even some lightning later. i appreciate you coming to hear our message. what is at stake here is not just what political party is going to win, but what candidate is going to govern? you and i were left by our parents and grandparents the greatest nation in the history of the world. it is our obligation to keep it that way, and there's no reason why we can't's. together, we can build the new

american century. that is why i am asking you to caucus for me. we will begin the process of selecting the next american president. the good news is it will signal the end of eight years of failure. it will signal the end of the obama administration -- [applause] senator rubio: i knew you would like that. [laughter] senator rubio: the question is, what comes next for america and what comes next if we are willing to do what must be done? that is why i am asking for your support on february 4. i am asking you to caucus for me. thank you and god bless you. i appreciate it very much. thank you. [applause]

>> i did not know -- senator rubio: good, now you know now. says but i don't have a camera. >> we will take it. >> thank you. [indiscernible] senator rubio: are you? are you really? small world. >> [indiscernible] >> thank you. >> welcome to iowa, sir. senator rubio: thank you. thank you very much. [indiscernible]

[indiscernible] >> welcome to iowa. senator rubio: i'm glad to be here with you. just we thought we were going to miss you. senator rubio: well, here you are. you found the right spot. [indiscernible] >> it wiggles and wiggles. senator rubio: that is what i see. that's a good way to work out. i need one of those. >> [indiscernible] senator rubio: how are you?

thank you. >> [indiscernible] senator rubio: thank you so much. i appreciate that encouragement. >> [indiscernible] nator rubio: no, i'm going to eat later. [indiscernible] >> would you like to meet the senator? >> thank you. senator rubio: good. how are you? good to see you. senator rubio: you almost ran out of space. >> yes, i know.

senator rubio: keep it alphabetical.

we may need to switch it around any time somebody shows up. it looks good. you're lucky to have enough room. that was great. all right, are we ready? [indiscernible] senator rubio: he is looking over my shoulder. actually, that aligns up perfectly. thank you. thank you very much. >> [indiscernible]

senator rubio: he was here. he was not going to be here and so 1:30. he was on the ground. >> [indiscernible] senator rubio: who is that? >> amy casanova is her name. senator rubio: in cuba? >> [indiscernible] senator rubio: but you are hosting her? >> [indiscernible] she survived the castro regime. for a long time there are atheist -- they did not even allow a christian. senator rubio: well, thank you very good to see you. i look for to going back. >> welcome to iowa.

-- i look forward to coming back. >> welcome to iowa. [laughter] [indiscernible] >> [indiscernible] senator rubio: it will work itself out. it always does. >> any farmer who says they don't need grain is crazy. senator rubio: we got that worked out. >> that's what i heard. >> i came to thousand miles and -- i came to thousand miles and sat in the rain for an hour. senator rubio: oh, my gosh. we've got to get a picture with you. >> [indiscernible] senator rubio: thank you. all right. thank you for coming. where did you come from? >> [indiscernible]

senator rubio: oh, my god. where is your camera? one more. >> thank you. thank you. senator rubio: are you enjoying the fair otherwise? thank you so much for coming all the way here. i really appreciate it. [indiscernible] >> i was up there a week ago for the debate. >> god bless you. senator rubio: god bless you, too. >> senator, thank you. >> how are you? good to see you. >> thank you for your conservative views. senator rubio: how are you? senator rubio: good to see you. thanks for having me here.

>> [indiscernible] >> 30 minutes outside. >> [indiscernible]

>> watch out behind you, man. >> quite a reception in her. what -- you have quite a reception here. what is your message? senator rubio: but i think his america -- that i think america is great. and i want to do what my parents did for me. >> let me ask you -- talking about immigration, trump finally putting out a paper. what are your thoughts on his plan? senator rubio: i have not read his plan. there are a couple ideas he shares with multiple people. i have not a -- i have not had a chance to read his plan. we need to start by enforcing immigration laws. once we do that, we need to modernize, so the people we

allowed to come in come in on the basis of building a marriage. and then we have to deal with the reality that we have 13 million emigrants, many of whom have been here longer than 10 years. if there are criminals, they can't stay. that is the lesson from our efforts over the years. >> you were here last night, writing the rise with your family. you are a young senator. a lot of iowans tell me they relate to you. senator rubio: that is why i was so focused on student loan debt. alternative educational plans. that is why we want to increase the child tax credit. that is why we want to cut the burden on small business. that is why we want to expand

the childcare tax credit, so students going back to school have somewhere to put their kids. i think it is 35 out of 50 states, childcare is more expensive than higher education. these are challenges real americans are facing. we have an agenda we are very proud of. senator rubio: hey, how are you? >> good to see you. senator rubio: we were here last night area -- last night, too. >> my daughters were here. senator rubio: they went to the concert and i rode rides with the boys. spent about $50 trying to knock down a bottle. it was fun. we had a great time. >> we appreciate your contribution to the iowa economy. senator rubio: maybe it was more to the carnival guys taking my money. >> [indiscernible] senator rubio: that's great.

i'm glad we did our part. senator rubio: i'm glad you brought your camera. i think they are often looking at a giant pumpkin somewhere. >> the butter cow -- senator rubio: we have not seen the butter cow. we have to go see that. >> we look forward to that. >> come in many have you had so far? senator rubio: i have had won just about every day. >> funnel cakes and cotton candy and all that stuff. >> sugar. senator rubio: well, good. i'm glad i saw you. >> [indiscernible] >> ok, ok.

they are wearing their iowa state colors. >> oh! >> he is a good friend and he came for my birthday party. i am trying to be a good host. we appreciate all of the candidates. we are excited about him coming and giving them a chance to see iowa at its best, actually. i support him, and i'm really impressed. i think he is definitely a rising star in the republican ranks. we are very proud of his record and appreciative of him coming. senator rubio: thank you so much. >> do you plan to spend more time here in iowa? senator rubio: where are we going? >> right over here.

senator rubio: do you have an umbrella? what are you selling? >> nachos. >> i have to point this out because television is visual -- fine sure choice today, sir. -- find shirt choice today, sir. enjoy, enjoy. shows what do you plan on reading trump's immigration plan? -- >> do you plan on reading trump's immigration plan? [indiscernible]

can we borrow any corn here or no? -- senator rubio: can we buy any corn here or no? >> [indiscernible] senator rubio: how long are you open? >> until 9:00. senator rubio: so, we have until 9:00 to stuff the ballot box. >> [indiscernible] >> you have to be 18. senator rubio: thank you. my sons are here, too. >> [indiscernible]

senator rubio: amanda is 15. three more years. the next time i come -- maybe in three or four years, as president, i hope. thank you so much. i appreciate it. >> ready? which way are we going? senator rubio: daniela, come here, please. >> [indiscernible] >> hey, can i get a picture? senator rubio: thank you, guys.

>> [indiscernible] >> oh, dear. >> where is she? oh, over there? >> [indiscernible] senator rubio: the guy we are following, in white? >> [indiscernible] senator rubio: it was like stop and start and stop and start. i was worried, on the radio they said that it was going to be lightning. >> where are we going? >> [speaking spanish] senator rubio: we are not going to be able to that thing.

it's probably shut down. >> yeah, looks like it. [indiscernible] >> oh, there are goes. it is spinning again. this morning it was not moving at all. >> i will get a photo. >> if elected president, how will you address global poverty? senator rubio: well, we do now. america does more than any country in the world. one of the goals we have -- the main things we can do, obviously

is help develop the economy through literacy, health care, ultimately rule of law. i feel like america does more now than any place in the world. >> [indiscernible] senator rubio: people think it is more than it actually is. it's only 1% of our budget. i have no problem with it. in some cases, i have called for increases. i would like to see more accountability on some of it. i have some reforms on some of it. for example, we did enact that required countries -- if they want to receive foreign aid, they have to make sure they get birth certificates. i would never propose cuts to it. what i'm looking for is ways to improve accountability. i would like the programs to get back to historic old -- historic

numbers. >> [indiscernible] >> [indiscernible] senator rubio: how are you? >> cheryl. senator rubio: cheryl. >> [indiscernible] [laughter] >> nice to see you. senator rubio: nice to see you? what have you got going? >> burgers. senator rubio: [indiscernible]

>> thank you. i enjoy doing this. senator rubio: did you already flip these? >> you are going to be in my hometown tonight. senator rubio: i am. [indiscernible] senator rubio: yeah, these have some time left. we do this every sunday. or most every sunday. [indiscernible] senator rubio: i got here as 7:00 a.m. [indiscernible] senator rubio: [indiscernible] are they all pretty much the same time? do you think the edges are

hotter? it looks like the middle might -- >> [indiscernible] senator rubio: that is the key, is to only flip them once. what are these? what is the meat? >> pork burgers. senator rubio: is there a particular reason? [indiscernible] you ever had a pork burger? >> [indiscernible] senator rubio: well, i have had a pork chop. i have not had it on a stick. it is pork, ground down. not as spicy, a lot thinner.

they are just trying to see if i burn anything. i am not going to burn pork. >> you do this at home? senator rubio: i do. right, guys? [laughter] senator rubio: these need a little more time. we like to grill. mostly hamburgers. other stuff. steak. we roast a whole hog on christmas. >> that's great. it's a lot of work. >> [indiscernible]

senator rubio: yeah. we have plenty. we do plenty of pork. we're cuban. you want a pork chop? no? were these frozen? >> yeah. the second batch of burgers today. [indiscernible] senator rubio: i'm trying to see -- these all look like they have already gone -- >> what is your favorite food at the fair here? senator rubio: i like the funnel cake. this is ready. i think this one is ready. don't you?

>> i think they all are. senator rubio: you think they all are? are there any vegetarians? well, we are not trying today. [indiscernible] um, these are going to have to go a while though. [laughter] >> a you like your meat really raw. >> put diet pepsi -- >> don't trust him. [laughter] senator rubio: we'll take some of these off here. >> you bet. >> thank you. senator rubio: i'm just wondering how many we are singeing right now. >> yeah, someone is going to get burned. they are walking backwards. senator rubio: what time do you start? >> generally we get here in the evening and things start

happening right away. senator rubio: is there a target temperature you like to get to? >> yes, everything has to reach 145. >> hey, over here! senator rubio: hey. you want a pork burger? >> a little bit more on that. senator rubio: the other white meat. >> that's right. [indiscernible] senator rubio: so, what do you think? do you think these are already? >> just give them a little --

senator rubio: what does the grill get to? >> pardon? senator rubio: what does the grill get to? >> oh, about 350, 400 degrees. senator rubio: are they frozen when they go on? >> yes. senator rubio: these take a lot longer. >> when they start bleeding -- it's time to flip them. the longer you cook it, the lower -- [indiscernible] senator rubio: right. we roast a whole hog for christmas every year. [indiscernible] we spent 12 hours last year on the one we had. at some point, you're just guessing. you're just looking at it. >> my wife and i do a lot of cooking and i do a lot of smoking. senator rubio: you ever use a roaster? we roast with charcoal. they call it -- in spanish. they do it in cuba by digging a hole in the ground. no one was to dig a hole in the yard anymore. it takes a lot longer that way.

>> right. senator rubio: we are ready when you are. all take that over to you. >> here, let me stir it for you. senator rubio: we've got to try it. >> you bet. [laughter] senator rubio: i think this is the one you made. that's good. thanks for having us, chef. >> [indiscernible] [indistinct conversations]

>> you got it working? >> [indiscernible] senator rubio: i did. i do that every sunday. >> thank you. we appreciate it. [indiscernible] >> how are you? senator rubio: thanks for having us guys. i appreciate it. >> i am a pork guy, and i -- senator rubio: oh, you are? [laughter] >> [indiscernible] senator rubio: you are everywhere. they have a big distribution center in south florida, don't they? >> we do. i just retired. senator rubio: you did? so, you are here?

>> i'm living around in atlanta. i'm having a good time. >> [indiscernible] >> i do. we have one if you would like 1 -- senator rubio: when i ran for senate, we got really interested -- we worked with them on a bunch of things. >> we appreciate all of the support you have given us over the years. senator rubio: you guys do a great job. >> we appreciate it a lot. senator rubio: you create a lot of awareness. >> [indiscernible] senator rubio: where is your camera? you can download that online. you look ready to go. are they working here? >> they are.

senator rubio: they don't get to go on rides? >> later. senator rubio: oh, later. thank you, guys. >> [indiscernible] [laughter] senator rubio: i might have overcooked them, not undercooked to them. [laughter] senator rubio: thank you. thanks for having me. senator rubio: let me guess, they are having pork? [laughter] >> [indiscernible] >> hi. what is your plan to turn minnesota into a red state? senator rubio: you know, we have a plan for all americans. i think americans in minnesota

and all of the country want their children to do better than themselves. the only way we will do that is to become globally competitive, modernize higher education, and make sure our military is the strongest in the world. we need to do at job of convincing them that we are the party that stands with them. >> thank you. >> [indiscernible] >> senator, what did you learn today, anything? >> [indiscernible]

as the candidates walk the fairgrounds and speak at the des moines register's candidate soapbox, today, republican rick perry will speak at 11:00. at 11:00 a.m.ing eastern, it is senator ted cruz. and on saturday, rep public and governor chris christie and bobby jindal at 1:00. #in the conversation at dmrsoapbox. hear from ohio governor john kasich at the iowa state fair. governor kasich was recently endorsed by alabama governor. the des moines register is hosting this candidates forum.

>> welcome again to the des moines register political soapbox. i am the news director. our next speaker is governor john kasich of ohio. he held his first elective office as a state senator in ohio then he served 18 years in the u.s. house including chairing the budget committee. after a stint in the private sector, he was elected governor of ohio in 2010 and was reelected in 2014. governor kasich, welcome to the relocated soapbox. >> thank you. do i have to stand up here?

can i stand down here? so i don't fall off the stage for you know what happened to the leader of the foo fighters, he fell off the stage. it's great to be with you. i want to tell you a couple of things and some things i have noticed at the fair today. just a little bit about my background in my record. i grew up in a little town outside pittsburgh called mckees rocks. democrat all his life and his father was a coal miner. a very opinionated and smart woman but not highly educated because her mother who lived with us could barely speak english. winds a town where if the blew the wrong way, people would find themselves out of work. i think it's important for people to know that i grew up in gotace where people never

the favored treatment. it was not a place where anything really special -- it was hard-working folks. i got elected to public office even including so much the republican party. i ran for office because i thought i could make a difference. i am a republican. the party has always been my vehicle and has never been my master. ladies like you to help me and go door to door. throughout my entire career, i have been a pretty independent person. i believe in balanced budgets but i believe in cleaning up waste no matter where it is. i was one of the original fighters against corporate welfare in the congress and it was at times a lonely endeavor. i spent 10 years of my life when i was in washington to balance the federal budget. my first budget i