disabilities as something not to be embraced or wanted. and society says it is too hard and this is just too difficult a task to manage. what we found is, yes, it is difficult. yes, it is stressful. but it is a blessing that we think god for every single day. thank you for asking about her. thank you for your prayers. we will continue to shine bella's like a very brightly. >> senator, thank you for coming. mr. santorum: thank you. >> [applause] >> i would like to thank the national press club's staff for helping us organize today's event. and if you would like a copy of this program or to learn more about the club, go to that website press.org. they give her much for coming today. -- thank you very much for coming today.

>> [indistinct chatter] >> [indiscernible] mr. santorum: well, i was always a big supporter of nih and making sure that we focus our resources on where the greatest public health challenges are. >> [indiscernible] well, i mean, number one, we would defeat isis. that is first and foremost. >> [indiscernible] mr. santorum: no, i understand that. isis is the one that is threatening this country. >> [indiscernible] mr. santorum: i -- i understand. from my perspective, first things first. and the first thing is we have an organization and isis that is a great challenge to the security of our country and the stability of the region.

if it is not eliminated, it can be a serious national security threat to our country. so that is our priority and i am not as familiar with all the different elements that are fighting aside, but that would be -- assad, but that is something we would look towards. we have a very mixed bag as to whether you have any type of resistance that you want to align with. >> [indiscernible] mr. santorum: again, it all depends on what our alternatives are in the country. inyou back challengers mississippi and utah in the last two election cycles. and vigorously supported their opponents. do you suspect that that will help you in the quest for delegates in those states? mr. santorum: oh, i don't know. i think we have been someone who has stood up and fought.

if we get washington, d.c. off the old slide of -- of just ever aadually lurching towards bigger and bigger government and more and more social state. whether i was in the senate or supporting people running for the senate, i try to get behind folks who i thought -- like ted cruz, for example. i endorsed ted in the primary, early on, before the primary. and had done with a whole host of other candidates and will continue to try to use our influence as president to make sure that we get our country back on the right track. >> [indiscernible] -- expect mexico to do in order to end immigration? what should they be doing? mr. santorum: i mean, if you talk to folks who are at the border, they will tire that the other side of the border is

pretty much a lawless area that allows for a lot of activity. everything from drugrunning to sex slavery to other types of, you know, creating an atmosphere for people to be able to pass into this country. the first thing to do is to get back in control of that section of your country and along people to come through your country on the way from central and south america into the united states, that is another area of the mexican government has not been particularly helpful in. i'm sure there are many others. >> [indiscernible] from central america, especially last summer. how would your immigration platform deal specifically with that problem? mr. santorum: yet, again, we would treat mexicans and other than mexicans the same at the border. which, of course, they don't now. but we would. we would and the -- end the catch and release program and

return them to mexico. even though they are not mexicans, that is where they came from. and our policy should be to return them to where they came from. >> [indiscernible] -- would you support family detention centers? mr. santorum: again, this is a very difficult situation. this is a scenario we could work with the mexican government. the mexican government has allowed these people to come to their country. they had the responsibility than and have it be another part of the things the mexican government should do, which is to stop these children coming through, coming into the country in the first place, and taking care of that problem before it reaches our borders. but when it does reach our border, it becomes a shared responsibility. mexico is facilitating these types of border crossings and they have to take responsibility for that problem. ok. >> [indiscernible] mr. santorum: again, -- [indiscernible] thank you.

thanks. >> [indistinct chatter] [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] >> if you missed any of what former senator santorum had to say, you can go to our website, c-span.org. quick reminder that tomorrow we head back to iowa to hear from ted cruz. he is preparing at the soapbox. you can see that live tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. >> this weekend on the c-span networks, politics, books, and american history. on c-span saturday, live coverage of presidential

candidates at the i was state fair continues. -- iowa state fair continues. we will hear from chris christie and bobby jindal. and sunday evening at 6:30, scott walker holds a townhall meeting in ashland, new hampshire. " is live two, "booktv at the inaugural mississippi book festival. coverage features former governor haley barbour as well as panel discussions on civil rights, history, and biographies. and the literary lives of harper lee. and sunday morning at 10:00, katie keefer shares her critical thoughts on the obama administration' relationships with millennials. saturday afternoon at 5:00, andrew on the preservation of new york's cultural, political, and architectural landmarks and the history of the commission created to protect them. and send at 4:00 p.m., three films on the pilot district

project, a program administered by the johnson administration to help improve poor relations between the police and community in washington dc after the 1968 martin luther king assassination. get our complete schedule at c-span.org. carterer president jimmy held a news conference earlier today to announce that he has cancer and that it spread to his liver and brain. we will show you all of what he had to say tonight, but right now, here is part of his remarks about his diagnosis. mr. carter: i felt that it was confined to my liver and that the operation had completely removed it. so i was quite relieved. and then that same afternoon, we had an mri of my head and neck, and it showed up that it was already in four places in my brain. so i would say that night and the next day until i came back up to the hospital, i just

thought i had a few weeks left. but i was surprisingly at ease. , iave had a wonderful life have had thousands of friends, and i have had an exciting and adventurous, gratifying existence. so i was surprisingly at ease. much more so than my wife was. >> [laughter] but now i feel it is in the hands of god. and i will be prepared for anything that comes. >> you can see all of president carter's news conference tonight beginning at 8:00 eastern here on c-span. next, it is more road to the white house 2016 with chris christie. the new jersey governor hosted a town hall meeting in new boston, new hampshire yesterday. it is about two hours. >> [applause]

[applause] >> good evening. please take your seats. welcome, governor christie. we have here a real new jersey boy. [laughter] >> [cheering] >> he is a real jersey boy. he went to university of delaware, got his law degree, and he has a long biography, which i will not go into. he is going to hit -- explain himself. but i remember the first time i ever heard him speak. and i thought, oh, my gosh, this is refreshing. he tells it like it is. and believe me, this is the third time i have seen him and i

know he will tell you like it is. i am the chair of the new boston republican committee. thank you. >> [applause] >> if you have never been to one of our meetings, we meet at the library the first thursday of every month. please, and cs. we have some great speakers. i try to get as many candidates as i can. and we welcome you. i am going to turn this microphone over to governor christie. >> [applause] [cheering] [applause] mr. christie: thank you. well, it is really -- it is really great to be here. i just first want to introduce the best thing that happened to me during my four years at the university of delaware. it out with a bachelors degree in political science and a wife. the first lady of new jersey. >> [applause] [cheering] [applause]

mr. christie: i will tell you, one of the things that i have enjoyed the most so far about this campaign is the fact that mary and i have been able to meet so many extraordinary people. -- and saw all of you down here at the bottom of that little incline. you know, america should see this. and i hope they do. because he we are, on an august evening, on a wednesday night, and so many folks from new hampshire out here tonight to listen to a candidate for president of the united states and try to help make your

decision about who the republican nominee should be and who the next president should be. and people get cynical about our government. we all do sometimes. man, people are in that. but let them see this. because this is what our democracy is all about. this is what we notice when we travel around america. so, i wish our oldest son andrew was here tonight because as we have got around, he continues when i come home, asks the questions about, what is it like to run for president? you should see this tonight. this is what it is like to run for president of the united states. it is really great. thank you for being here. >> [applause] little guye: i got a in the yellow shirt back there waving to me. don't want to disappoint him. thank you, buddy. i want to talk to about a couple of things off topic tonight,

then leave the rest of the time for you to ask me questions. i have done a bunch of these townhall meetings in new jersey. over 130 and the time that i have been governor. and somebody may have seen some of those or excerpts of those on youtube, they tend to be somewhat raucous affairs. but i am much more comfortable in answering your questions and finding out what is on your mind, but here are two things i want to talk about. debateif you watch the almost two weeks ago now, and i assume if you are here, you probably watched the debate, too. only 24 million of our fellow americans returned in that night. if you remember the interaction i had with governor huckabee, i want to revisit that for a second because first off it was very civilized disagreement and exchange. and i thought that was great. it was really good. we have differing opinions on this issue. and governor huckabee came up to

me afterwards and that is the stuff you really want to see, by the way. when you all were watching fox make a lot of money from commercials, they should have given you an option to pay a little bit more to watch what we were doing during the commercials. but governor huckabee came up to fornd he said to me, thanks such a civilized exchange. mike, you arehim, civilized with me, i will be civilized with you. we the shame of it was that were an hour and five minutes or so into that debate before every -- anybody brought up entitlement reform. today the federal budget of our federal budget is being spent on entitlement. yet we spent the overwhelming amount of time, except for that one question, on the other 29%. so why is that? it is because politicians are

scared to talk to about it. because we have to reform the entitlement system because the government has failed you. the government told you if you paid into the system, they would keep it in a trust fund. and that money would be kept their for you -- there for you until it was time for you to retire and then it would be paid back to you with interest. so that you could help to support your retirement. well, here is some bad news, everybody, that you already know. there is no trust fund. there is no trust fund. the trust fund is filled with a stack of ious from the government. and it is ious from ourselves to ourselves. those are the worst kind of ious. you've got to pay yourself back. the fact is that, you know, my disagreement with my kirkby is he says, well, we can't change entitlement because if we do that will be absolutely

confirming. lying and stealing by the government. and i say to governor huckabee, here is the bad news, the lying and stealing has already occurred. this is a classic of closing the barn door after the horse ran out. the fact is we have to get that horse back in the barn. it is not acceptable to allow what is happening to social security and medicare. so i suggested the most detailed program, in fact, the only program anybody has offered. imagine this. this is kind of hard to say you are the only prison was offered a plan when there are 16 other candidates in the race, not counting the five democrats. so put a one candidates in the race. there is only one. and you are looking at him. because it is too scary to put it forward for other people because they are afraid they are going to get you upset. i feel differently about it. i trust you. i think you already know the truth. you know the truth about this

already and you know what needs to be done. you just need to have a leader who is going to say ok, let's move in this direction and do it. and be trustful enough and you to tell you the truth. and so, we need to raise the retirement age for social security and medicare. you know why. because when those programs were developed, people/expectancy was in the mid to late 60's. -- peoples life expectancy was in the mid to late 60's. for women, 83 years old. and a man in america, 79 years old. i see a couple of ladies smiling. now i want you to know that a decade ago, you had a six year lead on us. a decade later, it is down to a four year lead. we are gaining on you, ladies. and that for your vacation you are counting on, you may not get it. you may have to put up with us for your entire life. but the good news is that we are living longer lives and better

lives. it is a blessing that we have more time on this earth to share with our family and our friends. and do so in good health. but what it means for the systems is that we are taking money out of the systems, 15 to 20 years longer than they were intended to have money taken out for each individual. we know that doesn't work. it can't work. and so what do we need to do? here is what i propose we do. we raise the retirement two years and phased-in over the next party five years. so that means eligibility would go up one month a year for the next one he five years. one month year for the next 25 years. what does that tell you? it means that people who are on social security now are not affected. people who are very close may be affected by a month or two or three. that is all. it is going to really matter and help the system for the kids who are here.

for the young people who are here. who may be now in their teen years or early 20's. it is going to make the system more solid for them. i remember a young man coming up to me here in new hampshire, 23 years old, he told me he had just gotten his 1st avenue out of college and he said, i'm glad you are dealing with entitlements because i see that deduction in my paycheck and i think to myself, what a joke, social security will never be there for me. we want social security to be there for that young man and we want him to feel confident in the fact that he is paying into the system and he is going to get something back in return if he needs it. that is the second point. i do the same thing with medicare. two-year eligibility increase phased-in over 25 years. if he needs it. we need to protect social security. i said to a group of folks who were recently at a fundraiser of mine, they said what you mean? i looked around the room and said it means none of you will

get it. >> [laughter] mr. christie: if you are rich enough to be at this fundraiser, you are probably not going to get social security if i have my way. here is what i mean. let me be very specific. yearu make over $200,000 a in retirement income, that means you have four or $5 million not counting your home invested that is throwing off income of $200,000 a year or more, first thing i say to you is congratulations. you have done a great job. you have lived your life and you had that kind of money saved. a great thing. secondly, i want to remind you that it is this greatest country in the world that helped to give you the opportunity to do that because no place else in the world have you had as free and unfettered old opportunity to be able -- unfettered opportunity to be able to accumulate that wealth than in the united states. here is the last part. if you are making that cap money, that social security --

that kind of money, will that social security check make any can of difference in your lifestyle? it won't. here is what it is supposed to be about. security. it was supposed to be a supplement for people's other plans for retirement, or a safety net for people who had worked hard and played by the rules and paid into the system but because of the twists and turns that sometimes our lives take, they were going to grow old in poverty. we didn't want anybody in the united states of america to grow old in poverty and have to choose between heat and food and rent. so social security can help prevent that from happening for those folks whose lives took a turn they didn't expect. and we need to have that safety net underneath them. changes,'t make these that safety net may not be there for those folks. in fact, a recent study said social security will be broken

in seven to eight years. seven to eight years, we are not talking about way off into the future. let's contrast that with what secretary clinton says she wants to do. she wants to take the cap off the social security tax. you pay tax on every nickel you make. right now it is capped at $118,000 year. if you make more than that, you don't pay any more fica tax. here is the problem with that. do you really want to give the government, will i to you and stole from you, more money? this makes no sense to me. we are sitting here having this discussion because the government was inept and dishonest in the way it does with your social security money. so mrs. clinton's proposal is, give them more. i would rather say, ok, if you are to give people who are making that can of money, let's take some of the benefits away. let's take money away from government. i think that is a really common

sense idea and i also think it is the way conservative republicans think. we don't want to give the government more money. it doesn't make any sense. because you know what? they will figure out a way down there in washington dc to spend it on something else. then they will come back to again. president, she will raise the tax rate, as well . guaranteed. we just need a little more. it is only little if you are receiving it, not if you are giving it. and it is a lot more than a little. and on medicare, the same thing, $200,000 a year or more retirement income, right now we subsidize or medicare premium 75%. even for those folks. let's say for those folks we subsidize your premium 10%. it is still subsidized, but that will save tens of billions of dollars a year if we just give them a lower subsidy. they have the money to pay for it. so let's make those folks pay a

little bit more for their health care so that medicare is there, fully subsidized, or those folks who really need it. and we know that is the most ineffective, inefficient, and costly way for us to deliver health care to folks in a -- through an emergency room. by the way, we are going to be paying for that, too. so i talk about entitlement reform not because i really want to because i'm a politician, too, and i like to get votes and be elected and 90 that it is risky, but absent of that if you are running for the most important job in the world during a time with you -- when you are within seven or eight years of this long-standing, program,l, antipoverty from going broke, you better talk about it or you have no business running for president of the united states. i hope when you get more people here in new boston who are in our primary, ask them and don't let them get away with the, oh, we will study it and look at it.

we steadied and looked at it plenty. now it is time to dig your heels in and take a position. tell the american people where you are at. that is what we need to do. >> [applause] second thing i want to talk about is lawlessness. listen, i have a different point of view may be than some others because i'm a former federal prosecutor. before i came governor, i was united states attorney in new jersey for seven years. i was named u.s. attorney by onsident george w. bush september 10, 2001. the job i said yes to an september 10, 2001 changed a whole lot 24 hours later. 24 hours later, my wife got up and did what she had been doing for many, many years since we got married. she got into the car, she drove to the tape -- train station, made her way to the world trade center in lower manhattan and what to her job.

at this point on september 11, her job was to blacks from the world trade center. -- two blocks from the world trade center. and my younger brother did what he had been doing since the late 1980's. took a car, took a couple of trains, and walked to the floor of the new york stock exchange were he had been working since he got out of college. and when that first plane hit that morning, i called mary patton. she said she could see out of her window. don't worry about it. they said it was a small computer plane. you remember. a small commuter plane. while we were on the phone, a second plane hit the second building. and she told me that the people in her office said of accurate to the basement. at that moment, we had three children in our lives. our son, andrew, who was eight at the time, our daughter, sarah, who was five at the time, and our son patrick.

patrick had just turned one year old. and those five and half hours were the longest five and half hours of my life because for five and half hours i didn't hear from her. one building fell, the second building fell. and they were all kinds of reports of explosions and bombs in other parts of lower manhattan that turned out all to be wrong, but i didn't know that. and i kept calling. i couldn't get her on the phone. five and half hours later, i get a phone call from her from a bar pay phone telling me that she had made her way out of lower manhattan to further uptown and were trying to figure out a way to get home. we figured out a way to get her home. and my brother, too. but our lives were changed that day. lawlessness. the lack of respect for the laws of our country. it started in earnest that day.

when people so disregarded the law that they felt they could hijack commercial airliners, fly them into buildings, kill thousands of people. and that they did so in the name of religion. job from that moment forward was to major that lawlessness was ended. and was to prevent any acts of terrorism from happening again on our watch to kill americans. and i just want to make sure that you all understand, let's remember for a second, the gravity of the losses that day. if we gave a moment of silence for every lost soul on 9/11, just one minute, we know now it has been nearly 14 years since that attack. those families have gone 14 years without their loved ones.

without their husband or wife, mother or father, son or daughter, brothers or sisters. but if we gave one minute, we would be more than willing to do that, right deck of here is what would happen -- right tackle here is what would happen -- right? here is what would happen. if we gave one minute, we would be sitting here in silence until on5 p.m. -- 9:45 p.m. friday. straight. if we gave each one one minute. the families have had 14 years of silence. into a little spat with senator paul on the debate stage. a little less civilized than my back-and-forth with governor huckabee, but only because senator paul decided to be

uncivilized. that is ok. see, we guys from new jersey are versatile. >> [laughter] mr. christie: we can be civilized if we need to be. and we can be less so if we need to be. but the reason i was so direct with him is because i almost lost my loved ones that day. and we lost a good friend of ours from our parish that day. he died in the trade center. that was killed in that trade center. since the advent of facebook, every year on his father's birthday, he puts his father's picture as his cover picture on his facebook page and he writes underneath it, dad, we will never forget you. well, we can't forget his father either. and we can't have other people in our country, cannot have

other people in our country who have to sever the same fate these folks did. so i say, yes, i care about civil liberties very much. and i treasure our constitution. but we can protect the homeland and protect our civil liberties at the same time. what they did in washington dc to stop the nsa from collecting phone records has made america weaker and more vulnerable. understand what they were doing, they were collecting phone records. they weren't listening in on your phone conversations. they want monitoring your e-mail. none of that was happening. if you listen to senator paul, he would make you believe that is happening. none of it was happening. collect these phone records, match them up, and if your phone number either calls a phone number of a known terrorist or received a call from a phone number of a known terrorist, then and only then does someone like me in my old job get to go to a court and

presented to a court that evidence. and and ask for a warrant. and then and only then could we see your phone records and who else you are calling and then maybe get a wiretap to hear who you're talking to but that was because you were receiving phone calls from a known terrorist. when you say, get a warrant, that is the way you do it. that is what an ophthalmologist as who knows nothing about the law. >> [laughter] [applause] mr. christie: i don't blame him. they didn't teach him that in ophthalmology school. they taught me that in law school. and what i said to him i truly believe it is easy to stay the stuff when you don't have responsibility. protecting the lives of the american people. i had that responsibility for seven years and my state. and it -- there wasn't a day i do and think about the fact that one of those airplanes took off from an airport in my state. amanda's -- and our state is a

great place for people to hide because you can find someone who looks and sounds like you anywhere in new jersey. >> [laughter] mr. christie: believe me. and so we have to take this seriously. and this lawlessness, everybody, it extends to other things. we now have sanctuary cities in this country where people who are here illegally can commit crimes with impunity and hide because the president of the united states refuses to enforce the law. we have states in this country where despite the fact that marijuana is an illegal drug, people are allowed to buy it, sell it, smoke it with impunity. even though the federal books still say that it is against the law because this president refuses to enforce the law. the oldt is that -- matters. of oath i took as governor

new jersey said i will enforce the laws of the state of new jersey. not the laws i like. all the laws. whether i like them or i don't, this president doesn't have the right to just enforce the laws that he likes and ignore the ones he doesn't. that is why we have people getting killed in century city's because he has refused to enforce the law. that is why we have lawlessness. and you hear the governor of colorado now even talking about the loss of productivity and colorado. of course, man. >> [laughter] mr. christie: like, are we shocked? it is so, you know, the fact is that laws matter. you want to change the lot you don't like? that is fine. we have a process. go to congress, change the law. i don't want to be a dictator. i want to be a loyal servant of the law. , everybody,he end

that is what matters the most, you know. we are a government of laws. you do not want it to become a government of men and women because when we do, it is ok -- it is like president bush used to say, a dictatorship is ok as long as are the dictator. right? all of a sudden when you are not the one making the rules, it becomes a different story. so i'm going to talk a lot in this campaign about enforcing the law. enforcing the law would solve our problems with immigration. enforcing the lot would solve our problems with productivity. and enforcing the law should give everyone in this group tonight the comfort of knowing that you live under the blanket of a republic that has a president who will enforce the laws strictly and directly. all the loss. -- laws. and that will extend around the world, as well. showne order in the world through american leadership can

help to make it a safer place. i want to talk about that a lot. a lot. >> [applause] going totie: so i am stop now and go to your questions. in new jersey, we have cap lots of rules at a town hall meeting. i found in new hampshire, we only need one role. you just raise your hand and i call on you. don't yell out questions. here is the thing, i don't answer yelled out questions. it is not because i'm a candidate or governor, it is because i am the father of four. >> [laughter] mr. christie: as the father of four, i have developed an acute ability to ignore things that are yelled at me. >> [laughter] mr. christie: and given that we are just coming off five days a family vacation, we -- where all six of us were together, that -- that sense right now is very finely honed. >> [laughter] mr. christie: so, you raise your

hand, i am happy to answer them. yes, sir. a microphone coming for you. >> thank you, governor christie, for coming out tonight. as a resident of manchester, i believe that every child, regardless of where they were born, should begin in the opportunity to grow to their full potential. and when we create partnerships, joining the countries and private sector, we can build the foundation for strong, independent people and independent nations. if elected, will your logic a presidential initiative on global early childhood development that focuses on malnutrition and early childhood education so that every child not only survived but thrived? because these children, or someone's sister, brother, nieces, nephews or sons and daughters and every parent wants

the best for their children. mr. christie: you bet. first off, i was just at an education summit today that we had here in new hampshire. a number of us went to that summit and spoke. and what i said was that it is the single most important economic security and national security issue of our time. ranked right now, we 20th in science, 27th in math around the world. in the industrialized nations. you can't be at that level and expect to still remain the number one economic and military power in the world. deal with with it, we that very aggressively in new jersey. especially in our areas of great need. where our educational system is not doing well. and we want to try to get children into the education system as quickly as we possibly can. so we deal with it pretty aggressively there and i think that each state has to look into their own since the states are

the ones that really fund education, they had to set their priorities. but what i would say to folks is, listen, you can invest now or invest later. if you don't invest now, -- we don't invest now and we have children who fail, it is going to cost us a lot more later on to do it. so i would be encouraging everybody to do it on a global basis because i know that was part of your question. america needs to be a leader and ever way that we possibly can be. but the president's role in that function is to be persuasive. his to speak to leaders of other countries and attempt to lead by example and persuade. i think it is a very important thing to do. the last thing on nutrition -- it is a sin that we have children and adults in america every day that go to bed hungry. more thanry that has any country in the world. we have people who go to bed

hungry. for us toways partner, as you suggested, both with the government and the private sector and the charities. we know that if children are well fed, it is almost impossible -- if children are not well fed, it is almost impossible for them to learn. we have a lot to do at home before we do more work around the world. we will continue to help around the world, but i think we have even more work to do on the nutritional front at home. and partnerships with private sector and charities. because when folks go to bed hungry in this country, they become less productive citizens and i think it is a sin. for us to allow that to happen in a country with so much. we shouldn't have that happening. thank you for raising the issue. >> thank you. >> [applause] mr. christie: i think -- come on over.

>> i know that you have said that climate change -- you believe climate change is real. house wondering if you think it is a real threat to our country and if you have any plans to fight it? mr. christie: let me be clear because i get asked this a lot. let's be clear about what my position is. yes, i believe climate change is happening and i believe that humans contribute to it. i don't think we are the only contributor to it and i think the climate has changed for a very long time. so what we do to try to make sure that it doesn't change in the way that it becomes a threat to us? believe in, like, the apocalypse of the inconvenient to -- truth. not one of my -- >> [applause] mr. christie: -- not what i subscribe to, but i will tell you what we have done in new jersey. think we have got to try to reach clean air goals. it is good for people's health.

you look at what is happening in china right now, there are days when people can't walk around without surgical masks because of the pollution going on in china right now. we don't want to have that here. in new jersey, for instance, we already met our clean air goals for 2020. and we get it while pulling out of something that you are still in here in new hampshire called the regional greenhouse gas initiative, which is a cap and trade, essentially, program, and tax. we are the only northeastern state to have pulled out of it. pennsylvania never joined it. we pulled out of it because i thought we could do it without having to tax people. 53% of new jersey's electricity is generated by nuclear. we have to start looking at nuclear again, everybody. three mile island happened when i was in high school. that is a long time ago now. the fact is we need to keep looking at nuclear. it can be done safely. if you stay on top of the maintenance and safety, it can

be done safely. that doesn't answer climate problems at all. here is one where if you go to a bar, come back here, maybe this weekend, you can win a bet with anybody. i guarantee you. ask them to name the top three states in america in solar energy production. getsood thing is everybody california and arizona. and they are right. who is number three? the great garden state of new jersey. yes! no one will guess that. but new jersey is number three in the country in the production of solar energy. we and the government partnered with the private sector, with tax credits and incentives, to put forward a program on solar energy because we believe that solar energy was the best of the alternative energies are us to invest in that people would buy in support and that could be effective. so we partnered with our energy companies, our private business,

and the government provided tax incentives. now new jersey is the third-largest producer of solar energy in america. fourth is we have now earned -- now in the process of building a gas-fired electricity plants. a cleaner burning fossil fuel really available to us because of the shale over in pennsylvania has become less expensive. in the last 18 months, energy costs in new jersey have gone down 9%. that thereon this is are ways for us to reach our clean air goals without taking us uncompetitive. arejersey's energy prices going down, that is going to make is more competitive where energy is a big cost driver. yet we have reached our clean air goals. you can do this without having to do things that a radical and without having to tax people. so i think you can be a republican that says i want a republican solution to this problem.

the democratic solution is cap and trade, tax more, more investment in failed clean energy alternatives. let's invest in the ones we know work. solar is when we know works. and wind works on land. you know, and one of these other states, iowa, i have been driving around i will. there is a lot of windmills and i will. you couldn't put a windmill in new jersey. we are one of the most densely populated states in america. windmillse of those up in new jersey, it is going to be a major problem. but let's invest in those things that make sense so that we knowledge that we have to be stewards of this quadrant. this is a gift to us from god and we are temporary stewards. so we need to do that and we need technology our role in all of this and try to get better. but i am not going to do it in a way that will put america at an

economic disadvantage because i also wanted to get a job, keep a job, the able to support your family and do it in a way that is competitive with the rest of the world. so that is the way i would approach it. those are my feelings on the issue. >> [applause] mr. christie: yes, sir. i will give you mine. promise that if this were, say, 1936 and we knew what was going to happen in europe, wouldn't we have done something to stop it? today, that is happening through isis. it is men, women and children being butchered. what are you willing to do to stop it? and thank you for coming to new boston, the gravity center of the world. >> [laughter] mr. christie: [laughter] you are going to have to explain that to me later. that is all right, though. i do feel quite tethered to the ground, so maybe that is it. >> [laughter] if i had told you

three years ago that we would have a terrorist force that would be beheading christians because of who they believe in, you probably would have told me you wouldn't believe it. but that is what is happening right now. right now. christians across the middle east are being beheaded not for anything they have done, not for any territorial type of incursion have made, not because of any insult that they have made to islam, but because they are christian. because they believe in jesus christ. they are being beheaded. now, america has to be a leader in the world. puts ine the place that its first amendment to the constitution the idea of religious freedom and the

provision that says the government shall not establish a religion, you know, it is both the power of our constitution is that not only do we say you should be able to worship god in the way that you see fit, that your soul and your conscience lead you to do, but we also say, and by the way, our government has no business in telling you that we have a national religion either. because we know that could have a chilling effect on your ability to freely believe in the god that you believe in and what you believe in it. so isis is an extraordinary threat. let's think about this. the president says isis is the jv. not on the high-priority list of secretary clinton. they all said that this was not a big deal. well, it is a big deal. here is what i would do. first is we have to learn what -- learn from what happened in iraq. is americabuy that

cannot become an occupied force in the middle east. whenever we become an occupying force, we wind up being disrespected and we wind up causing even more problems in the region. so the first alternative i would pursue is this -- the jordanians, who have -- had their pilot burned alive in a cage, believe me, they want -- they want to take care of isis. the egyptians, the saudi's, and they all -- emirates, want to take care of isis. we need to arm them with the most sophisticated weaponry to take these people on. first off. >> [applause] mr. christie: second, we need to say we are going to train you. and not to be high general level. down to the battalion level. on how to use these weapons and learn the techniques of the most of his the get fighting force the world has ever known.

third, we need to provide them with intelligence because isis is not a nationstate. it is in syria, it is in iraq, it is in all kinds of places. so we have to improve our intelligence capabilities and provide that intelligence to those countries so they can find them and kill them where they are. and fourth, we need to provide the air power of the united states to soften up as targets so that when those troops move in, they are moving into a softened target that they can kill. and i would want to give them the opportunity to do this first. now, if they could not do it on their own, then we have to go and finish the job. because if we don't, they are coming here. we know that. >> [applause] mr. christie: and so -- it will not be my option of first resort , but it will be my option of next resort.

and i think that is what the american people would want because the number one job of the president is to protect the lives and the security of the people of the united states. and i think even this president, who still doesn't have a strategy for how to deal with isis, and the former secretary of state running for president who says she will get back to us on that one, she will get back to us on a number of other issues that she doesn't want to address a deal with, we need to have a leader who will say i have a plan. we are going to execute the plan. and you know from hearing me talk about these issues that i spent seven years of my life trying to make sure that terrorism did not come back to the united states of america. and i did not invest those seven years of my life and the lives of the men and women who worked for me and federal law enforcement to give that away to isis what we prevented with al qaeda. it is just the same organization

under a different name. that hates americans for being americans and for loving freedom. so first, let's arm our friends. let's train them. let's give them the best intelligence. and let's give them the air cover they need to fight the fight on their own. but if they cannot finish the job, then the united states of america needs to go over there and finish the job under strong leadership with a strong commander-in-chief. >> [applause] mr. christie: yes, sir, right there. coming up behind you. >> good afternoon. mr. christie: thank you, sir. >> i think one of the things that would make america great is to bring back jobs in this country. a lot of people today go to college, like my son, and we can spend anywhere from $40,000 to $50,000 per year. now these kids are coming out of college, some of them just don't

get jobs. why can't we keep some of these and stops in america exporting them to, like, china and all these other places? why can't we lowered the tax brackets for the major corporations to keep the jobs here? let them be profitable and let us bring the young folk so they conserve i've. instead of paying rent, they can buy homes. mr. christie: you are singing my song, man. i am with you. >> [applause] mr. christie: and by the way, this is something that is personal to me and mary. we have two children in college right now. he is nervous about getting a job. school, know, for that we are paying $60,000 a year. and our daughter, sarah, is going to be a sophomore at notre dame. we are dropping her off this weekend.

that school is $62,000 a year. so i just -- during my five days off, we were writing those checks. so i'm glad this is a gravity center. >> [laughter] mr. christie: because my wallet is much lighter than it was before so i need this extra gravity here in new boston. here is what i propose. and for all these things, the plans i talk about, you can go to my website. they are all detailed there. chrischristie.com. if you are having trouble sleeping, it will help you. but here is what we need to do. you are right. we have the highest corporate tax rate in the world. how is it at 35% -- how is it that the country that perfected the free enterprise system now is the greatest tax or of the free enterprise system and the world? it is crazy. it is because we have a president who believes that all wisdom and answers reside in

washington dc. that he gets to pick the winners and losers. and the way he does that is to tax all of us at a higher rate. i say we need to lower that corporate tax rate to 25%. that will put us right in the middle. the united states does not need to be the lowest rate, but if we are competitive, we will keep a lot of the jobs here. second, we need to lower the individual tax rates in this country. we cannot do that cheaply. it is going to cost us. get rid of all the loopholes and reductions, except for two -- the mortgage interest deduction and the charity contribution deduction. continue people to own homes, continue to encourage people to donate to charities. but all the rest of them, goodbye. and then lower the rate to 20% at highest percent. 8% is the lowest rate. pick one rate in the middle, i will negotiate. doesn't matter. half three rates.

imagine -- rates that low, how much more of your own money you would be able to keep? but in addition you know that the tax code right now on the individual side is rigged for the rich. it is. at least republicans should admit it. the wealthy are the ones that use most of those loopholes and deductions. regular everyday americans don't. so let's get rid of them. the wealthy have never done better than the have under barack obama. ever. amazing, right? the guy who complains all the time about income inequality. and the wealthy -- [indiscernible] so we need to lower those rates. imagine how quick you could do your taxes. here's how much you made, here's what you paid in home mortgage interest, here is how much you deducted from turkey, multiply by whatever bracket you are in, send your check. you know what that helps to do echo not only will it lower -- helps to do? not only will it lower your anxiety, do you imagine how many

people i could fire from the irs when i do that? >> [applause] mr. christie: that is going to create economic activity and help keep jobs here. the third piece is regulation. this president has regulated more than any president in american history. in the last year alone, he issued a 1000 new pages of deregulation and one year. 81,000 pages. the cost of federal regulation for each small business in this country is $10,000 per employee. that is a hidden tax. that's every small business owner, whether you are in ice cream shop or a bicycle shop, whether you are a garage that repairs cars, no matter who you are, $10,000 per employee to comply with federal regulations. if i'm president, the same thing i did as governor of new jersey. the same kind of mess i inherited. the big democrat i replaced as

governor. in fact, the person who is his environmental administrator became the epa administrator under barack obama. that is all you need to know. so on day one, i signed executive order number one. freeze any new regulation from any department or agency from the state government for 90 days. then i sent my the tenant governor out to hold a series of meetings with businesspeople to say, which are the worst regulations that are causing you the most -- costing you the most and least effective? we got rid of one third of the regulations that was put in place by my predecessor with the stroke of a time did we could do -- with the stroke of a pattern -- pen. we could do the same thing if i am president. look around and go, oh, my god, i'm here. >> [laughter] mr. christie: then i will sit down at my new desk and that will be the first order that i will sign, freezing any new

myulations and then sending vice president out to hold a series of public meetings to find out which federal regulations are the ones that are absolutely restricting our ability to great more jobs in this country. when he or she comes back with that list, then we will get rid of them. it gets back to the energy policy and this lady's question -- we have to have an energy policy that says we are to exploit the assets we have, make energy cost lower in this country. that will bring manufacturing jobs back because the manufacturing jobs and went to china and mexico went there because of cost of labor and cost of energy. we don't want to change the cost of labor because i don't want people making minimum money that will not help them have the lifestyle they need in this country but we can compete and win on energy costs if we get

natural gas out from under the ground. we have a 100 year supply and get the oil out and have greater investment in alternative energies and lower the cost of country. this we lower the cost of energy in this country, manufacturing jobs will come back because we have skilled labor in this country to do it and they will pay for that they know their energy costs will be lower and we can be lower than china or mexico on the energy front and that's the way we create jobs and that's in the plan i put out and that's why will do as president of the united states to get jobs. [applause] yes, ma'am, back there. >> thank you. i was wondering if you could speak -- to give back off that gentleman's question involving college education and the rising cost. we have two daughters and i'm sure many people in here share the same concern as to how can our children get a college education and not be swamped with debt when they graduate? how can we avoid sending all our

retirement money and remortgaging our house to give them that education? hristiep: this is an issue we talk about a lie. i will end with a college question. mary pat and i have two children in college now so we understand what you are talking about. are nine weeks ago, we got the letter from the university of notre dame. it's great. it's from father jenkins, the president. the first paragraph was something like this -- we want to thank you for the blessing of entrusting your child's soul to us here at the university of notre dame for education over the next four years. it's from a priest and it's a notre dame. you can hear the music from "rudy" and the background as you read that paragraph. you can see touchdown jesus and the whole thing.

my heart is pounding. he is a priest, as the money paragraph. i'm a catholic and i know. the he says that's why we're so proud to let you know that tuition this year will increase only 3.9%. inflation is like 1.5%. which is the lowest rate of increase in 40 years. think about that. nearly percent increase in annual, is the lowest increase that notre dame has had in 40 years. it's insane. let's talk about how we make college more affordable. take, when our students out loans, they should be able to renegotiate those loans. right now, they are not allowed to do that. that's wrong. [applause] the federal government is making money off of student loans now because they are charging 8% rates to our kids and their

families when they borrowed the money at 3%. that's not right. we should be able to renegotiate your mortgage and you can refinance your car loan, no not bethese kids should able to renegotiate their student loans. we should give them a national service option to work this stuff off. not just military service but a national service option. it should say that if you invest a number of years after you graduate in serving your country in various capacities, you can pay off those loans through your service. i think that's an option for a lot of kids that they would want to take. it will give them great experience. of the jobbecause market being tighter, this might be a way where they can be productive and get that debt off their back. we also have to get less of a debt on their back. the shame is that we accept the bills we get from colleges. this past week, i just paid the bills. it's ridiculous this bill.

wishon? room and board, other fees. [laughter] that's what the whole bill says. it's six to $1000. if you guys went in there and and they came back to you with a bill for $100 and all the check came back was food for $100. you would call the waiter back over and say excuse me, could you detail this for me? at way i know exactly what this costs and what i got a make sure what you say i got i actually got. wedo that for $100 bill but don't do that for a six to $1000 bill from a college. we just accept this three line bill. first, they need to detail what they are spending your money on to us. i talked about this in new hampshire. my daughter was with me.

i said what if you found out that 1% of the budget this year was being spent of building a rockclimbing wall? i thought this was a ridiculous thing. my daughter grabbed me from behind and said we already have a rockclimbing wall at notre dame. i know a lot about our daughter. one thing i know for sure if she is not climbing that rockclimbing wall. i know it. she's got lots of skills and lots of interest but one of them is not the rockclimbing wall. navy we don't need for a vice president paperwork. maybe we don't need all these things that colleges and allowed to do. if they had to tell us what they're spending the money on, i think they would be embarrassed. we. would see those things being reduced us a chance tove unbundle that bill. if my daughter says i'm not into the social scene at notre dame, i go to my room after class and i work i go to the library and i go to class, that's what i do.

right? that's not true but -- [laughter] --dads perfect world you have kids who commute to school and live at home. why can't you just pay for what you use? it not unbundle it and give a checklist print this and be a great market test on what they are providing. if 85% of the students a i don't want to pay for this, maybe you should not have built in the first place. maybe you should not build a second one next time. right now, what's happening is there is no market forces on college tuition. the last reason why is us. our daughter goes to notre dame and she loves it. i mean, she loves it. she sends me pictures to my beautifullook at golden dome looks and look at first down moses and touchdown jesus. she sends me these pictures.

she told me when she came home for christmas but i have noxious we love my school. it warms a father's heart when the bill came in, if i came to the conclusion that notre dame is not a value anymore. for what i'm paying, i'm not getting enough in return. imagine that. if i have the conversation with my 19-year-old daughter. name another school but we think is a better value so you will leave notre dame and go there. i don't know how many of you in the audience have teenage daughters. i suspect he would agree with me that after the crying and the i can't believe you are ruining my life and the stamping of feet in the running to room and the slamming of the door, you know possiblet's in any way , you and i are sending her back to notre dame. [laughter] because we know she is happy there and we know she's getting a good education.

we want the best for our children and they know it. they know it. they know they've got us. here is the kicker -- if you don't unbundle, you cannot have students at your school that participate in the federal grant and federal loan programs. if you want or federal taxpayer money, be transparent and give parents choices and our kids chose -- choices to lower these costs. [applause] about the way i would go it. unfortunately for you and i, it may be too late. i won't be president for another 17 or 18 months or so. it might be too late. yes ma'am, right there. thank you governor christie. i have two very essential questions for the future of our country. what is your favorite bruce springsteen song? [laughter] what is your

favorite pizzeria in new jersey? christie: this is someone who knows the things that are important to new jersey. and me personally. my favorite bruce springsteen song is thunder road. the reason it's my favorite is it is the first song on my favorite album which is born to run. if you have access to this song jerseycould do this new favor for me -- go home tonight and listen to thunder road. the reason i like it starts at the very beginning. close your eyes and listen to those first few notes of thunder road. it sounds like a song that is welcoming you. it's welcoming you in 20 world that you will explore over the next eight songs with this guy. heck no. a request for me to sing and i will do almost anything as you all know and have seen on television. rockefeller -- acapella

is not good for me or you. my favorite pizzeria in new jersey, i have to go with 2 because there is one from my youth and one currently. of my youth, it's a place where i grew up on the places called 's and they made the best pepperoni pizza i ever tasted in my life and i still do my mother used to buy that for land --idays not on lent. sheridays because she said worked all week and she said i'm not cooking on fridays and she got that pizza and loved it. currently, we have a great pizza place in our own town called dante's. the kids love the pizza and i'm eating less pizza guy used to unfortunately. those of the are to favorite pizzas, one from there.

bruce springsteen, born to run, two weekends ago, it was the 40th anniversary of the release of born to run, 40 years ago. i can remember being at of-year-old kid in new jersey and going to sam goody's record store when we used to have record stores, i went in and bought that album. , and i saw this incredible picture of this young bearded guy in a black leather jacket and a big african-american saxophone player. i listened to the song something that made it different for me was because being from new jersey, we get picked on. those songs and most of the songs are about people i know in places i knew. later on that fall was on the cover of time magazine and news begin the same week, he was no longer just our hero. he was a national figure.

it made us proud. while bruce and i probably agree on one or two issues politically, on a good day, he has become a friend over time. he was incredible helpful during hurricane sandy for our residents. i got to know him during that time and he and his wife and children are very wonderful folks in great representatives of new jersey even though we belong to different political parties. thank you for asking me about mr. springsteen, one of new jersey's favorite exports. [applause] this guy right here. good evening, governor. we know our partnership with the mobile fund to fight aids and malaria and tuberculosis havoc proven track record of success, they save about 100,000 lives per month. we have the resources to in these epidemics but what we lack is a political will. as president, we make sure the share ofits its full

the global fund? the person --mr. christie: the person who brought that is mr. george w. bush. been one of the largest voices around the world. in mynamed ray chambers state who is a human ambassador who is been the guy leading the fight to fight malaria in africa. my state has led that fight. i am proud of the fact that these are all republicans who have led this fight. democratskly, the tend to give this lip service and republicans tend to write checks on these fights. as long as we have the way to cure and treat these diseases entry in the case of aids and save lives that we can walk away from that. people dyingto see

around the world needlessly. when we take on that fight, that's why we have to protect the patent and profitability of our pharmaceutical companies in this country. it is the american pharmaceutical company in the main that have taken the risks and invested the money in research and development to develop these treatments. then you have some folks may other party constantly attacking those corporations and belittling them and yelling about their profits and their costs when they are the one to take the risk to put billions of dollars into research and development to come up with these treatments. we then can export them to the rest of the world. my deal with the american people would be i'm happy to invest and put our full share into those types of things and other things as well. to help fight disease around the world and i think it helps to make a more peaceful and prosperous world when people are

healthy. return, let's lower the heat of the pharmaceutical companies in this country. let's be supportive. not everything they did was right because nobody in the world that everything they do is right. there is no person or corporation but the reason the stuff is available is because they are willing to take the risk to do it any technology it and acknowledge them for that. we can do this together and help the rest of the world and i think we should. been the our party has party that helped lead that fight and if i am president, i want to end that fight because i think it's a fight worth ending. iq for bringing it up. -- thank you for bringing it up. >> thank you, governor. what would you do to bring honor back to the veterans of this country? that is my first question. this presidency has seemed to lost that.

how would you straighten out the v.a.? the second question is, how would you straighten out the va? gov. christie: first off, i will take it in reverse order. to straighten out the va, we have to acknowledge publicly that we made a promise to veterans. that promise was, if you volunteer for service in our military, or for our older veterans, if you are drafted for service, and you put yourself in service of our country and put your life on the line, we promise you, in return, to care for your medical needs for the rest of your life. not if it was convenient, not our time schedule, but for the rest of our lives we will provide you with that service in return for your service. the first thing i would do is to fire those folks that have been responsible for the incompetent handling. the president has only fired one person. [applause] there is a lot more people that deserve to lose their jobs over this. second, i would go around the country and look for the finest

hospital executive that i could find in the country and ask that man or woman to come in, volunteer some of their time to come back and be the new secretary of veterans affairs. what the va has become, in the main, is a provider of health care. why not get the very best hospital executive we can find a -- we can find in the country to look at what we're doing in our va hospitals and other medical service providers, and get that person to come in and task them with the job of straightening out the system. third, because our veterans should not have to wait for that to happen, i would expand what is being done now. every veteran should be able to take his or her card and go to any health care provider in the country and get medical care. [applause] we will always need va hospitals because they provide specialized care, but you should be -- but you shouldn't be restricted to just the va hospital. in terms of bringing honor back to our veterans, not only is it

about the way the president himself conducted himself in his interaction with veterans and conducts himself as commander-in-chief so americans feel proud of their service because of the commander in chief they have. let me tell you a couple things we have done in new jersey that are concrete to that people know about how much i care to make sure our veterans are treated the right way. about three years ago, we started a program called vets for warriors. this is a 24 hour a day, 70 week -- seven day a week hotline for veterans having mental health issues. it is run out of rutgers university hospital in new jersey and is run nationwide. veterans man those phones. they have been trained to deal with fellow veterans for having mental health problems. this is a partnership between the state of new jersey and the department of defense. this past spring, the department of defense eliminated the funding for this program.

this july, the program was going to close. when i heard about it this spring and i found out that we couldn't get money out of the federal government, i went to two leaders of the legislature, both democrats, and i said, we cannot let this program close. i said, for $3.3 million, we can keep this program open to every veteran of the country. we all put in the budget together. i have to give credit to both of these gentlemen. i signed the budget and now, the program is still running. at the expense of the taxpayers of the state of new jersey for the entire country. and for veterans across the country that is how strongly we , feel about our veterans in new jersey. [applause] secondly, since we are advocating this hard -- this card program, we decided to

start a pilot program in new jersey with trauma care hospitals. we are giving $5 million from the state, they are matching with philanthropic money, and they are guaranteeing for any that has been denied care at a va facility, if they come to one of these hospitals and presents himself and says id tried to get -- and says, i tried to get care and didn't get it. -- and didn't get it, they guarantee that that vet will get care that day. we put our money where our mouth is when it comes to our vets. third and last example is that a lot of these vets who come home with drug or alcohol problems, mental health issues, and up hitting bottom and becoming homeless. in new jersey, we always have a homeless place for veterans. it is in the southern part of our state. it is veteran haven south. one of our largest psychiatric hospitals was going to be closed in the northern part of the

state and they suggested that we sell the hospital to a private facility. i decided no. what we did with that facility is that we opened veteran haven north so that the veterans in the northern part of our state we have place to go, too. the upside is that since most of them have drug and alcohol dependency problems, there is a private drug and alcohol counseling facility on that property. we said, you can stay on the property as long as you promise, in return to us, to provide drug and alcohol counseling to any of the homeless vets. they agreed and we now have a partnership where homeless veterans have a place to go, sleep, eat, and get mental health and drug and alcohol counseling to try and get themselves back on their feet.

and becoming productive citizens again. those of the things we're doing in new jersey to help vets. we will take the same approach as president of the united states. my staff tells me i can take one more question which means i will take two. the reason for that is, i want to remind them that i'm still the boss. [laughter] especially since you mentioned springsteen before. >> thank you. i just want to preface this question by saying that in my 20 years of voting eligibility in this great country, you are the first candidate to really inspir -- candidate to really inspire not only myself, but my entire family to get out there and vote in the election of 2016. [applause] one issue that my whole family has been dealing with recently is the obamacare issue. i would love to know if you could speak a little bit about how you feel about it and how my things change if you were to be president.

gov. christie: first off, obamacare is a failure and needs to be repealed and replaced. start off with that. let's -- let's start off with that. [applause] it is not enough just to say that. every republican will say obamacare is a failure, ok. that means you got the handbook. what you all have to be demanding up here, and the rest of the country is counting on you to demand it -- you have to ask for more than that because you are the presidential wine tasters for the rest of this country, and especially now with 17 of us. first, you cannot have a program out of washington dc that handles that large a piece of our economy in 50 different states.

with 50 different sets of needs run out of washington, d.c. it was bound for failure. i can or member with our first -- i can't remember when they were first coming up with this thing and they wanted to open the state exchanges. i was refusing to open the state exchange in my state. i got a call from the white house and they said, we would really like you to open this exchange. i said i wasn't going to. they said you should partner with the president on this and i said no. here's why. i said, you want me to start a program where i have no control over the rules and no say on the budget but all the responsibility for whether it is successful or not. there is no good executive in the world who would ever accept that deal. none. not a good one. you have no control over the rules, you have no control over the costs, and you have all of the responsibility. if it goes south, they're not going to call washington. if you have a bad exchange in new hampshire, you are calling

the locals here. so, i think we need to do is to go to a completely state-based system. let's take our two states. new hampshire and new jersey are geographically, relatively the same size. you have 1.3 million people. they are spread out. there is a lot in the southern part but there is also a good piece in the northern part. your problems are mostly access. with regards to health care. a lot of that access has to do a distance. now let's take new jersey. we're about the same size. we have 8.9 million in about the same space. our problems for health care are not about access. you trip over a hospital every four miles in new jersey, and we trip over each other in new jersey. our problem is cost. our access point is cost.

why would we think that one program out of washington dc could fix those problems? it can't. why should we try to do it that way? the constitution of the united states said that anything that is not enumerated as a power for the federal government reverts to the states. i don't see health care in the constitution of the united states. [applause] i don't see it. so, i'm willing to make the governors and the legislatures in each of these states responsible for coming up with a health care program that deals with access and cost in their state. not optional, they have to come up with a program. i might not necessarily like the program that your governor comes up with, but the fact is, you have a republican legislature that can help to do some different things here. we trip over hospitals in new jersey, you guys trip over state reps. you have 400 of them.

here's the good news. you can get to them. you can't get to these people in washington if you don't like obamacare. you will find state reps all over the place. you can get to your state senators, get to your executive counselors, and get to the governor. you can't do that in washington dc. i believe each state should be tasked with the responsibility of coming up with a plan that works for their state. we have the most ethnically diverse state in the country, the most densely populated state in the country. that presents a whole bunch of different health care challenges, so we need to have a plan. i trust the governors, republican or democrat, because they know that, unlike people in congress, who are accountable to no one. i saw a poll that said 13% of the american people approve of the job congress is doing.

the only thing i was surprised about is, who are those 13%? who are the people that are saying, i like that? you can get to the people here. i think that the government that is done most closely to the people is the government that is the most effective. on health care, we should not be allowing the federal government to take over this. the next president has to change it, but they have to change it by also addressing the health care needs of the american people. let our states do it the way it's should be done. that is the best way to bring change and opportunity. let's get this gentleman here for the last question. >> thanks for coming to new hampshire. i was wondering what your opinion is on h1b visas. disney recently laid off their entire i.t. staff.

pacific gas & electric did the same thing. it's not helping jobs. gov. christie: here's the thing. we have an entire immigration system that doesn't emphasize quality, doesn't emphasize fairness, doesn't emphasize employee american citizens. we have a system that has totally run amok. we spend most of our time, unfortunately, talking about the border situation. the border situation is a problem and i have talked in detail about what i think we need to do to secure the southern border. that is not what your question is about. we spend a lot of time talking about that. it makes, i think, the american people seem smaller than we are. the fact is that we need to talk about the entire system and legal immigration.

what are we going to do about legal immigration and how can we make sure it is controlled in a way that benefits our country and the people of our country? on the h1b visa side, we haven't even had that conversation. we aren't talking about it. this is my 17th or 18th town hall meeting up here. you're the first one who is me about the visas. not only illegal folks coming up [no audio] not only illegal folks coming up here but we also need to do something to make sure that the american worker is getting a fair shake. right now, people feeling the immigration system, no matter whether you are a high skilled person like yourself or a low skilled person, they all feel

like they are being taken to the cleaners. it is broken and it is a mess. i think we need to be able to do is first, secure the southern border. people won't want to talk about the visa problem until we secure the border. the president isn't going to be able to do that. then we have to deal with the whole issue of legal immigration. it is extraordinary important, especially given this gentleman's question. a young kid out of college or a middle-aged guy like us or whoever you are in between. we also don't want to ever be seen as a party or as a country as anti-immigrant. it is personal for me as it is

for many citizens here. my grandfather was born on the boat between sicily and the united states. imagine that. that means that when my great-grandfather was having trouble getting work in sicily and applied to come to united states work in sicily and applied to come to united states, my great-grandmother was nine months pregnant. and they got on the boat anyway. they were so hungry to come to the united states. i can't imagine my great-grandmother giving birth on that boat. my mother was a smart alec, she used to tease my grandfather and say you are nothing, not sicilian, not american, you were born in the ocean. you are nothing.

my grandfather died when i was very young. one of my few memories of my grandfather he would say, that's , not true, i'm an american. they made me american when i got to ellis island. my grandfather was so proud of the fact that his mother and father and he made it. he came over. they worked out the bills. he became a mason. we don't want that part of our country to be secured --obscured. that is what we want, to get educated, did the right things. that is the conversation we have to have. one of the things that bothers me right now is that there is too much heat, and not enough

light. your question is a great example. no one talks about that but it is really affecting you and others. were well-trained and need to do this work. >> my fiance cannot get a job because of the competition. i read that senator rubio wants to triple the number, we do not need that. one other point? back to social security, how about getting congress to pay in? gov. christie: you are talking to a guy who does the -- who doesn't understand why congress has term limits and i do. [applause] somehow, the governor of new jersey, the president of the united states are dispensable but congress is not dispensable. somehow obamacare is good for the country, but congress did not buy it. somehow, in my state, i don't get pension members of my legislature do. i'm not asking for a pension but

they should be getting on -- should not be getting one either. [applause] we blew it is a party, in 1994, all the rules that congress passes will apply to themselves. we forgot about that. this is why people get so cynical about congress. i do too. you are right that that is exactly what should be happening in instead, they make special rules for themselves. i don't understand why we, as american people, should put up with that. they serve us. i think there should be term limits, 12 years for everybody in congress. [applause] 12 years. if you can't get it done in 12 years, then go home. right? i have a guy my state legislature -- get ready for this. he has been in the state legislature for nearly 42 years. man, get out.

if you haven't done everything you want to do three times in 42 years, time to go. that is part of the problem that creates the issue you are talking about. these guys in washington, i guarantee it is something in the water, i don't know, i'm going to let new jersey water trucked into the white house. we need to have a congress that has laws that apply to them, but also feel the need to be in touch with folks like you. >> thank you. gov. christie: five state troopers and this guy is helping me out here. [laughter] here's the thing. the biggest thing is that congress loses touch. they lose touch with people and they don't know your story.

part of the job of a governor or president who has the executive authority is to make sure -- and that is why did townhall meetings, because i want to stay in touch. i want real stories coming out about the theories you get pitched to you, but how these policies or lack of policies really affect real people and their families. thank you for that. you are a first timer on that, and i didn't think out of going to get a first-time question tonight. [applause] first off, thank you for coming in the daylight and staying until it's dark. this is my first outdoor, in the dark townhall meeting in new hampshire. i hope it will not be my last. [applause] i want to end by saying two things. first, to say thank you for being such an incredible example of the greatest democracy the world has ever known.

this state reinvigorates my belief in the fact that we are getting it right, and we can get it right if we work together to work with each other and we care enough about the future of our country to spend the time we need to spend to pick the right leaders. you are doing that and i appreciate it very much. [applause] second thing, i think if you go to chris christie.com, you go to the website, you will fall asleep, read it again, you will go through all the specific plans. it is important for you to see it, because seven years ago, the majority of the american people voted for a bumper sticker. hope and change. sounded like great words, but if you knew hope and change meant the weakest economic recovery since world war ii, a nuclear iran, health-care system that was broken.

in fact it would take more of your money, if you knew that that was what hope and change meant, you would have been running for the hills. this time, i am challenging all of you. you had better figure out what the man or woman is offering themselves for the job is going to do when they get there. the only way were going to do that is to demand that they tell you now. that is why we're putting all that detail the website. it is not just to help insomniacs. we care deeply about insomniacs but it is not just to help them. it is also to make sure that you know, when i show up on january 20, 2017, you better know what i'm going to do. and then if you complain i can say, i told you. no complaining. you voted for me, now i'm going to go do it. second thing is that i can't tell you everything that i'm going to do because we don't know everything that is going to come across my desk. the one thing we know for a president of the united states

was that george w. bush thought he was going to be the education president. his first eight months he passed no child left behind and worked with the other side of the aisle to get education reform. all of a sudden, one morning he wakes up and he's reading to a group of schoolchildren in florida and radical islamic terrorists fly airplanes into the world trade center and the pentagon and he became a wartime president and a president that was going to fight terror. you don't know. he could have never told you what he would do to fight terror and you weren't asking him because you didn't know. how do you make this decision then? how do you decide between the 17 of us? it can't just be the list of issues. it can't just be my record of governor because everyone has a record to look at. you have to know who we are. that is why this process is so important the way you do it in new hampshire. you have got a chance to know

who we are more than anybody else in the country. i will tell you who i am. i the son of an irish father and a sicilian mother. i hear some grumbling. [laughter] for those of you who grumble, you know what that means. that means i am the oldest child in the family. i became expert at an early age at dispute resolution. my house was a loud place, and my parents were both very emotional people and were able to really put their feelings out there. my dad is now 82 years old. where are you, tim? c-span has it, my father is definitely watching. my father, 82-year-old guy, still is in new jersey, wonderful person. came with me to the debate in cleveland. was thrilled, is thrilled about all this. if he was here tonight he will

-- would be hugging all of you. he is a big hugger. he would be telling you embarrassing stories about me when i was a kid. he is that kind of guy. my mother, on the other hand, was the driver in our house. i used to tell my father all the time that in the automobile of life he was the passenger. mom was the driver, she set the rules, she was judge, jury, and executioner. mom was the driver of the bus. her biggest rule was no suffering in silence. i think she put this rule into effect so she could use it. she was the one who used in the most. -- used it the most. she used to say this all the time. if you have a problem, i need to know about it. if you're worried about something, i need to hear it. if you have a problem, i want to help you fix it. if something great is happening in your life, i want to celebrate with you.

when we got older, after a while, it got a bit much. she will be on it all the time. we would say, mom, enough. she would say no, christopher, you need to hear this. you're going to hear it right now. that is the way i was raised we lost my mom 11 years ago. she was a dynamic person, but she was a lifetime smoker. she smoked from the time she was 16 years old and by the time she got to february of 2004, she was diagnosed with lung cancer. for anybody who is been through this, sometimes cancer is very aggressive and for her it was. i was a united states attorney

at the time. i went to the united states attorney's national conference in 2004. my younger brother called me and said, they put mom back in the hospital. he said, if you want to see her you need to come now. i got on the redeye flight that night. i got home the next morning. i drove to the hospital. i got to the room and they had started to give her morphine. any of you have -- who have been through this, you know that is the beginning of the end, they are just trying to make her comfortable. when i got there she was kind of in and out of things. i sat there for a while. my mother has not see me for a week. finally, she came to. she was like, what day is it? it is friday. it is friday, she said, -- i

said it was 9:30 in the morning. she said, go to work. i'm not going to work today. she said, christopher, it is a workday. go to work. i said mom, what are you afraid of not getting your taxpayers money possible worth? stop. i decided to take the day off, i'm taking the day off. she said to me, christopher, go to work. it is where you belong and there is nothing left unsaid between us. other than the birth of our four children, it was the most powerful moment of my life, because my mother was giving me permission to let her go. what i thought at that moment, when i was sitting there, was that she was right. i hate to admit it, but she was right. the way she taught us to be our whole lives. there were no deathbed confessions. every grievance had been aired,

every problem had been talked about. most importantly, i knew that she loved me, and she knew that i loved her. there was nothing else left to say. so i got up, i kissed her on the forehead and i said ok mom, i'm going to work. she said, good boy. and i left. that afternoon, she went into a coma, and three days later she died. it was literally last conversation i had with my mother. i had no regrets about it, not at all because she lived her life and taught me to live my life in a way that ended for her in the right way. in a place of peace. so, as one of the most psychoanalyzed politicians in america -- like when i said get the hell off the beach or sit down and shut up. you now know, it is her.

[laughter] [applause] it's her. you know now. she taught me to be that way. and i know that if she were still alive today to see this, to see this circus that my life has become with the signs in the -- and the lights, and the cameras, i know she would have lots to say. the first thing she would say was, so, you're running for president of the united states, mr. big shot. i changed your diapers, i know who you are. don't get too big for me. my mother would want me to keep my head on my shoulders. she would want me to be the person she raised me to be. the second and she would say to me is that if you are going to do this and ask people for their vote, this is the most precious they can give to anyone outside of their family. if you are going to ask them for that, you had better tell them everything.

you had better tell the what you think and what you feel, what you are going to do and not going to do. in a trusting relationship, that is what we do. we do not hold back. this campaign and the slogan is a tribute to her. if she were here that is what she would want me to be. i have to make sure that i keep faith with that. that is who i am. you need to know that. here are the four things i need to promise you. these are within my control. i promise i will do if i am president. first, you will never have to wonder what i am thinking. i will tell you. second, you're never going to

have to wonder what i'm feeling. i'm going to show you. third, you will never have to wonder what i am willing to fight for because i will fight for it. fourth, you will never have to wonder how hard i'm willing to fight for it because you will be able to see it with your own two eyes. beyond that, all i can tell you is i will try my best, the same way i tried my best as governor of new jersey, attorney in new jersey, as a husband and father. i will do my best. those four things you can take to the bank because that is the person my mother made me. all of us have all kinds of things that influence our lives but in the end, we can't kid ourselves. the two most important people in our lives are mother and our father. they form more of us than anything else in the world. we have to get back to respecting that in america and acknowledging it and living that every day because the strength

in the core of our country comes from god and our families. if we had a greater respect for god and our families first, i think a lot of these other problems will fix themselves. we are ready to go everybody. we're ready to win this election. thanks for coming tonight. make the country a better place. [applause] thank you for your question, too. gov. christie: thank you for coming. thank you for your question. thank you, sir.

we can move it back to the other direction. where are you from? we can start moving it back in the other direction. thank you. where are you from? >> medicine. -- madison. governor christie: thank you.

of course. where? we go there all the time. where? that is the same sizes -- same size as our town. thank you for coming. great to meet you. thank you.

thanks for coming. of course you can, my pleasure. >> they said that gravity center of the universe. governor christie: there you go. >> i admire you. governor christie: thank you. happy to be here. thank you. way to go.

ma'am, how are you? thank you very much for coming. >> thank you. my compliments. he is a big fan. thank you, sir.

governor christie: thank you. >> i was in the back. it was awesome. governor christie: thank you. thank you for coming. >> great job tonight. governor christie: we will keep at it.

>> i followed you a long time. governor christie: thank you. >> these are my children. we are showing them the political process. governor christie: thank you for coming in spending time tonight. >> i was wondering if i could get a picture? governor christie: go ahead. turn this way. >> thank you very much. i liked what you said about your mother. i might use that with my kids. governor christie: thank you.

>> this is my mother-in-law and my mother. governor christie: rate to meet you both -- great to meet you both. >> you are so real. thank you. i want to see you in a debate with hillary. governor christie: me too. thank you. governor christie: my dad is a giants fan. work through it. my father has been able to.

>> thank you for coming. governor christie: how are you? >> we are caught in the middle, we pay all of this money, i am a social work student, so we sit in class and talk about social security and how it is great and everything. are we going to see it? governor christie: yes. >> thank you so much. >> shake your hand. >> shake your hand. governor christie: you bet i will.

thank you so much. >> nice to meet you, governor, i am glad you came to our state. governor christie thank you very : much.