failed clean energy alternatives. failed -- as the obama administration has done -- failed clean energy alternatives. let's do the ones that work. that we know work. wind works on lands. i of been driving along iowa. there are a lot of windmills in iowa. you could not put a windmill in new jersey. i mean, we are in the most densely populated state in america. people about 8.8 million in a state that is about that big. you put a windmill up in new jersey, it's going to be a major problem. let's acknowledge we steward this planet. this is a gift to us from god and we are temporary stewards for the next generation and the next generation after that. let's not do it in a way that

will put america at an economic disadvantage it -- disadvantage. i want you to have a job. i want you to do it and competitive way. those are my feelings. yes, sir. i will give you mine. based on the premise that, say, this were 1936 and we knew what was going to happen in europe, wouldn't we have done something to stop it? that is happening through isis. innocent men, women, and children are being butchered. what are you willing to do to stop it? boston, theming to gravity center of the world. [applause] ok, you will will have to explain the gravity center thing to me lately. that's alright though. i do feel quite tethered to the ground. maybe that's it.

if i had told you three years ago that we would have a terrorist force that would be beheading christians because of , youhey believe in probably would have told me you did not 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 they have made. not because of any insult 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. if we are the place that puts in its first amendment of the constitution the idea of and thes freedom

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

cannot become an occupying force in the middle east. whenever we become an occupying force, we wind up being disrespected and wind up causing even more problems in the region . so, the first alternative i would pursue is this. the jordanians, who had their pilot burned alive in a cage -- they want to take care of isis. the egyptians, the saudi's, -- the saudis, the emirates, they want to take care of isis. and they are in their neighborhood. we are going to arm you with the most sophisticated weaponry we can give you to take these evil on. -- these people on. second, we will train you. not at the general level. down to the battalion level. how to use these weapons and learn the techniques of the most sophisticated fighting force the

world has ever known. third, we need to provide them with intelligence. isis is not a nationstate, right? it is in syria, iraq, all kinds of cases in the middle east. we need to improve our intelligence capability so they can find them and kill them where they are. fourth, we need to provide airpower of the united states to soften up those targets, so that when those troops move in, they are moving into a softened target they can kill. and i want to give them the opportunity to do this first. now if they could not do it on their own, then we've got to go and finish the job. because if we don't, they are coming here. we know that. 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 your it because the president of the united states is to safeguard the security of the people of the united states. and i think even this president who still does not have a strategy for how to deal with isis and this former secretary of state running for president who says she will get back to us on that one, get back to us on the pipeline, actually get back to us on a number of other issues she just does not want to address or deal with -- we need to have a leader who will say i have a plan. know from hearing me talk about these issues that i spent seven years of my life trying to make sure that terrorism did not the united states of america and i did not invest in those seven years of my life and the lives of the men and women who work for me and federal law enforcement to give what wey to isis prevented with al qaeda. it's just the same organization

under a different name, that hates americans for being americans, for loving freedom and liberty. so, first, let's arm our friends, let's train them, let's give them the best intelligence. guess what? they don't want to live under that type of rule either in any of those countries. if they cannot than is the job, united states will go there and finish the job under a strong commander-in-chief. yes, sir? he is coming up behind you. >> good afternoon. sir.christie: yes, >> i think one of the things that would make america great would be 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, in some of them just

don't get jobs. why can't we keep some of these great jobs in america and stop exporting them to, like, china and all of these other places? taxcan't we lower the brackets for the major corporations to keep the jobs here? let them be profitable and let us bring the young folks so they can survive. instead of paying rent, they can buy homes. gov. christie: you are singing my song, man. by the way, this is something that is personal to me and pat. we have teed up children in college. our oldest son andrew is getting ready to start his senior year at princeton. -- we have two children in hollis. for that school, we are paying $60,000 a year. sarah is starting her sophomore year at notre

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

answers reside in washington, d.c. and he gets to pick winners and losers and the way he does that is to tax all of us, use that money to pick the winners and losers for himself. i say, we need to lower that .orporate tax rate to 25% that puts us right in the middle. the united states doesn't need to have the lowest tax rate. we have a lot of other advantages. now here is what i have proposed. get rid of all of the loopholes and deductions except for 2 -- the mortgage interest adoption and the charitable to -- production and the charitable contribution deduction. we want to continue to encourage people to donate to charities. but all the rest of them, goodbye. and then lower the rate to 28% as the highest rate and only have three rates. 28% is the highest, 8% is the lowest rate. pick a rate in the middle. i will negotiate. does not matter. when the middle.

-- in the middle. in addition, you know the tax code right now is rigged for the rich. it is. we as republicans should admit it. it is rigged for the wealthy. because the wealthy are the ones who 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 they have done under barack obama. ever. amazing, the guy who complains all of time about income inequality. betterlthy have done under barack obama than anyone else in recent times. imagine how quick you could do your taxes. here is how much you made, how much you paid in home mortgage interest, how much you paid to charity, 50 minutes, you have done your taxes. do you know what that helps?

-- end, can you imagine how me people i can fire from the irs? [applause] gov. christie: the third thing is regulation. this president has regulated more than any other president in u.s. history. they issued 81,000 new pages of regulation in one year. regulationusiness says the cost of regulation is $10,000 per employee. that's a hidden tax. that every small business owner, whether you are an ice cream shop or bicycle shop or a garage that repairs cars, no matter who you are. $10,000 per employee to comply with federal regulations. if i am president, i will do the governor of new jersey. that was the same mess i inherited.

big, regulating liberal democrat i replaced. the day i sign executive order number one, freeze any new regulation for 90 days and then i sent my lieutenant governor out to hold a series of public which are they worst regulations that are costing the most, giving the least benefit, driving is the most crazy, and let's get rid of them. theot rid of one third of regulations with the stroke of a pen. we can do the same thing as president. that will be -- i guarantee you, that will be executive order number one. close your eyes and picture. i am in the oval office january 2017. i look around, go, oh, my god, i am here. it [laughter] gov. christie: then i will sit down and my new desk and that will be the first executive

order i will sign freezing any new regulation, and then sending my vice president out to hold a series of public meetings to find out which public -- federal absolutely are restricting our ability to create more jobs in his country. and then when he or she comes back with that list, then we will get rid of them the same way i got rid of them in new jersey. that is the way we will create an keep jobs -- and keep jobs in this country. this despite to this lady fro question as well. we've got to have an energy oficy that makes the most assets we have. make energy costs lower. that will bring manufacturing jobs back. jobs that went to china and mexico went there because of cost of labor and cost of energy. we do not want to change the cost of labor because i do not want people making minimum money havewill not help them the lifestyle they want, but we can compete on energy costs.

if we get natural gas out from under the ground, oil out from under the ground, have alternative energy and lower the cost of energy in this country. the manufacturing jobs will come back because we have great labor in this country to do it and we will pay for that. we can be much lower than china or mexico on the energy front. that's a way we create jobs. that is what is in the plan i have put out and that is what i will do as president of the united states to help create jobs. yes, ma'am, back there? >> thank you. i was wondering if you could speak to -- sort of to piggyback off that gentleman's question about college education and the rising cost. we have two daughters. i am sure many people here share the same concerns. how can our children get a college education and not be swamped with debt when they graduate? of can we avoid spending all

the retirement and remortgaging our house just to give them that college education? listen, this is an issue we talked about a lot. i will start where i ended on the college question. in college.children we know exactly what you're talking about. eight or nine weeks ago, we got a letter from the university of notre dame, and it's great, right? the president of the university of notre dame. the first paragraph with 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 her education for the next four years. you know, it is from a priest, right? you can hear the music from "rudy" in the background, right? [laughter] see christie: you can

touchdown jesus. the golden dome. my heart is pounding. and of course, the it is the money paragraph. i'm a catholic. i know it. tuition and notre dame will only increase 3.9%. 1%,mber, inflation is like 1.5%. and here's the kicker though -- the lowest rate of increase in 40 years. think about that. i nearly 4% annual increase in tuition is the lowest annual increase at notre dame in 40 years. it's insane. so, let's talk about a few things about how we make college more affordable. first, when our students take out loans, they should be able to renegotiate those loans if rates go down and right now they are not allowed to do that. that's wrong. federal government is making money off student loans after charging a 7% rate to kids and their families.

when they borrow the money at 2%, 3%. not right. you can renegotiate your mortgage. you can refinance your carlin. refinance student loans, bring down the cost. secondly, we should give a national service option to work this stuff out. service, buttary national service. if you want to invest a number years after you graduate serving your country, you can pay off those loans through your service. i think that's an option for a lot of kids they would want to take and it would give them great experience. in addition to that, especially because of this gentleman's question, this might be a way to be really productive. but also, i think the shame of this is that we accept the bills we get from colleges now. i said this this past week. i just paid the bills, right? it's ridiculous this bill.

board, other and fees. [laughter] gov. christie: that is what the whole bill says. it's a $61,000 bill. if you guys went in there and had dinner, you went in there and had dinner and you came back $100 and if the check just said food, $100, you would call the waiter back over and go, excuse me, could you detail this for me so i know exactly what each thing cost and what i got and what you say i got i actually got? we would do that for $100 bill. we do not do that for a exceed $1000 bill from it knowledge -- from a college. we just get this three-line bill. first, they need to detail what we are spending our money on. i talked about this in new hampshire. my daughter was with me.

1% of theat if that budget was being spent building a rockclimbing wall. because i thought this was a ridiculous thing, right? my daughter grabbed me from behind and says, we already have a rockclimbing wall at notre dame. i know a lot about our daughter. one thing i know for sure. thatin't climbing rockclimbing wall. i know that. she has lots of skills. she has lots of interest. not have one for a rockclimbing wall. maybe they do not need 41 vice presidents. if they had to tell us what they , they would ben embarrassed. and i think it would be reduced. daughter says i'm not into the social scene. i would class, i go to my room, i go work, that's what i do.

that's of course not true, but -- [laughter] dad'shristie: but in perfect world. we have a lot of kids who commute to school, live at home. what can't you just pay for what you're going to use? why not unbundle it and give a checklist? testhis is a great market on what they are providing. if students say i don't want to pay for this, maybe you should not have else it. and maybe you should not build a second one the next time. but there are no market forces on college tuition. the reason why is us. so, our daughter goes to notre dame, she loves it. i mean, she loves it. she sends me pictures. dad, look how beautiful the golden dome looks today, look at touchdown jesus. she sends me these pictures. she told me when she came home

for christmas break, "i have noxious lee love my school." this is great. warms a father's heart. but when the bill comes -- you know what, notre dame is just not a value anymore. paying, i'm not getting enough in return. i don't want to name another school because i will insult that school. i do not know how many of you in the audience have teenage daughters, but i suspect you would agree with me after the crying and the "you are ruining my life and the running to her room and the slamming of the door, you know if it is any way possible, you and i are sending her back to notre dame, because we know she is happy there and she is getting a good education. we want the best for our children and they know it.

they know it. they know they've got us. unbundling do this -- unbundling? here's the kicker. if you do not do those things, fromannot have proceeds federal programs. you need to be transparent to us. that is how i would go about it. unfortunately, for you and i it may be too late. i will not be president for another 17 or 18 months or so. it may be too late. yes, ma'am, right there. >> thank you, governor christie. i have two essential questions for the future of our country. number one -- what is your favorite bruce springsteen song? number 2 -- what is your

favorite pizzeria in new jersey? gov. christie: well, this is someone who obviously knows what is important to new jerseyans, and me personally. my favorite bruce springsteen song is "thunder road." it is the first song a my favorite album which is "born to run." to the song,ccess go home and listen to "thunder road." the reason i like thunder road starts at the beginning. close your eyes and listen to be first few notes and it sounds like a song that is welcoming you in. welcoming you into a new world that you are going to explore over the next eight songs with this guy. oh, heck no. [laughter] gov. christie: your request for me to sing -- i will do almost anything and have seen on television any number of times. -- no, notera pella

good for me, not good for you. "thunder road." jerseye pizzeria in new -- i have to go with two because there is one in my youth and currently. all my youth is a place where i grew up in the place is called rado's, and they made the best pepperoni pizza i've ever had in my life. my mother used to buy that for us on fridays -- not on lent. on lent, we could not have the pepperoni. week and she was saying, i'm not cooking on fridays, and she got the pizza and we loved it. .nd currently, dante's i'm eating less pizza than i used to, unfortunately, but those would be our two favorite pizzeria's, one for my youth and one from there. i have to say one less thing -- bruce springsteen.

"born to run." two weekends ago, it was the 40th anniversary of the release of "born to run," and i can remember being a 12-year-old kid in new jersey and going to sam goody's record store -- when we used to have record stores, right? sam goody's record store and buying that album and opening it up, the front of it, and seeing this incredible picture of this young, bearded guy in a black leather jacket and a big african-american saxophone to thosend i listen songs. and the thing that made it different for me, being from new jersey, we get picked on. and i listen to those were songs about people i knew and places i and bruce was no longer our little hero. he was it national figure.

he made us proud. well bruce and i probably agree on one or two issues politically on a really good day, he has andme a friend over time was incredibly helpful during hurricane sandy for our residents. i got to know him during that time. he and his wife and children are newt representatives of jersey. thank you for asking me about mr. springsteen, one of new jersey's favorite exports. this guy right here. with a hat on. >> good evening, governor. we know our partnership with the fight epidemics -- we have the resources. we lacked the political will. as president, will you ensure that the u.s. commits to one

third of the global fund? gov. christie: yeah, i will. and i'm proud that the person who rocked the fight against aids to the world stage is ifsident george w. bush, and you talk to folks from that movement, folks like bono from a guy named ray chambers in my state, a u.n. ambassador leaving the fight to fight malaria. very wealthy guy in my state. i'm really proud of the fact that when you think about it, these are all republicans who have led this fight. quite rightly, i bet to tell you, the democrats kind of give it lip service and republicans frankly, i have got to tell you, the democrats kind of give it lip service and the republicans tend to write checks. i don't think we can walk away from that. people dyingto see

around the world needlessly. on theunited states -- flipside, what i want to emphasize to folks is that is why we have to protect the patents of the pharmaceutical companies in this country. pharmaceutical companies have taken the risk, invested the money to develop treatments, and there are some people in the other party constantly attacking those corporations and be leveling them, and yelling about their profits when they are the one to take the risk to put billions of dollars of research and development to come up with these cures and treatments that we then transport to the rest of the world. so, my deal with the american people would be this. i'm happy to invest and put our full share in two those things and other things as well. it helps make a more peaceful and prosperous world as well.

let's go over the heat, the pharmaceutical companies. it doesn't mean everything they because there is nobody in the world that everything they do is right. no person, no corporation. but the reason this stuff is available to us is they have taken the risk to do it and we need to knowledge them for that. so, we can do this together and help the world. i think we should. our party is the party that has fought that fight thank you for ring that up. i think it's really good. yes, sir. you, governor, for coming to new boston. what would you do to bring honor back to the veterans of this country? is my first question. and how would you straighten out

the v.a.? gov. christie: i will take it in reverse order. the first thing we have to do is it knowledge publicly we made a promise to veterans. the promise was if you volunteer for service in our military or for older veterans, if you are drafted and you put yourself in service of our country and put your life on the line, we promise we will care for your medical needs the rest of your life. not if it was convenient. not on our time schedule. at but for the rest of our lives we would provide that service. the first thing we would do is fire the folks responsible for this incompetent handling. the president has only fired one person. there's a lot more folks who

deserved to lose their jobs over this. i will look for the finest hospital executive that i could find in the country and then ask that man or woman to come and their time to of be secretary for veterans affairs. because what the v.a. has become is a provider of health care. so, why not get the very best hospital executive we can find in the country to look at what we are doing in our v.a. hospitals across this country and our other medical service providers and get that person to come in and test them with a job . third, our veterans should not have to wait for that to happen. every veteran should be able to take his or her card and go to any health care provider in this country and get medical care. we are always going to need v.a. hospitals because they provide specialized care, as you know. we will always need v.a. hospitals, but you should not be

restricted to just a va hospital. in terms of bringing honor back to our veterans, not only is it about the way the president himself conducts himself and his interaction with veterans and conducts himself as makes ar-in-chief, veterans feel proud of their service because of the commander-in-chief they have, but let me tell you a couple things we have done in new jersey that are concrete to let people know how much i care about making sure veterans are treated the right way. three years ago we started a program called the vets for warriors. this was a 24 hour a day, seven hotline for veterans having mental health issues. it is run out of rutgers university hospital in new jersey. it's run nationwide. you know who mans those phones? veterans who have been trained to deal with fellow vets 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 -- if you can imagine this, sorry -- eliminated funding. this july the program was going to close. and i just was not going to let that happen. so i heard about at this point. we could not get money out of the federal government to do it. i went to two leaders of our legislature, both democrats, who at times i do not always agree with and i said, listen, we cannot with this program close. i said, for $3.3 million we can keep this program open for every veteran around the country. and credit. gentle he never hesitated. we put a budget together. i signed the budget. now it is running, at the expense of the taxpayers of new jersey, for the entire country. that is how strongly we feel about our veterans and new jersey. [applause] secondly since we

are advocating this card program, we have started a program with our cute care caretals, -- acute hospitals, trauma care hospitals. they are guaranteeing for any vet who has been denied care, if they come to one of these themselvesnd present and say i tried to get care and guaranteeget it, they that they will be taking care of. we put our money where our mouth is. the third and last example -- they end up really hitting bottom, they become homeless. in new jersey, we'll is had a homeless place for veterans, called veterans haven self. it's in the southern part of the state. one of our larger psychiatric

hospitals was going to be closed. they suggested that we sell the hospital to a private facility. i decided no. what we did with that facility to the veterans haven north, and the upside is most of them have drug and alcohol dependency problems. there is a private drug and onohol counseling facility that property. instead of taking them off the you can stay on the property as long as you promise and return to us -- forget rent, any ofvide coverage for the veterans staying at veterans haven north. they agreed. we have a partnership were homeless veterans have a place to go, a place to sleep, a place to get fed, and a place to get mental health and drug and alcohol counseling, to try to get themselves back on their feet, back to becoming

productive citizens again. those are the things we are doing. [applause] gov. christie: my staff tells me i can take one more question. take two. i will is then remind them who boss. especially since we mentioned springsteen before. >> thank you, governor christie ofant to preface this, out 20 years of voting eligibility, you're the first candidate to really inspire not only myself, but my entire family to get out and vote for the election in 2016. one issue that my whole family has been dealing with recently as the obamacare issue, and if you could speak a little bit about it and how things might

change? gov. christie: first off, obamacare is a failure and it needs to be repealed and replaced. let's start out with that. but it's not enough to say that. you have to say why it is a failure and how you will replace it. every republican will say obamacare is a failure and needs to be replaced. ok, that's really good. that means you got the handbook. what you all need to be demanding -- and the rest of the country is counting on you to be demanding -- 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, you are going to vet us. so vet us. here is what you are a program in washington dc that handles that large a piece of our economy in 50 different states with 50 different sets of needs

right out of washington, d.c. i can remember when they were first coming up with this thing and they wanted us all to open obamacare state and stages -- exchanges and i was refusing and i got a call from the white house. and i said, -- they said, you know, governor, we really like you to open and obamacare exchange. i said, i'm not going to. they said, you are a reasonable guy. you should partner with the president. i said, no. here's why. you want me to start a program where i have no control over the ,ules and no say on the budget but all of the responsibility for whether it is successful or not. i bet to tell you, everybody. there is no good executive in the world who would ever accept that deal. non-. no good executive in the world would take that, because you over the rules, the cost, but all of the responsibility. if you go south, they will not

call washington. if you have a bad exchange in new hampshire, you are calling the locals and saying, what did you do to mess this up? i think we need to go to a completely state-based system. let's take our two states for instance. geographically they are relatively the same size. you are spread out. there's a lot in the southern part of the state. there's a good part in the northern part. your problems with health care in new hampshire are largely access and a lot of that access has to do with is this. now take new jersey. we are about the same size. it with 8.9 billion people -- million people and about the same space you have 1.3 million people. you trip over a hospital every four miles in new jersey. and we trip over each other in

new jersey because we are so densely populated. our problem is cost more than distance. why would you think washington, d.c. can fix those two problems? it can't. why should we? the constitution says anything not enumerated as a federal power falls to the states. i do not see health care and the constitution of the united states. do not see it. so, i am willing to make the governors and the legislatures responsible for coming up with in their states. not optional. --y got to come up with a the got to come up with a program.

i have heard that you guys trip over state reps. you've got 400 of them, right? .ere's the good news though here's the good news. you can get to them. you can get to these people in washington if you do not like obamacare. man, you will find city reps all over the place where you can say, i don't like this. you can get to your state senators. you can get to the governor. you can't do that and washington, d.c., so i believe each state should be tasked with the responsibility for coming up with a plan that works for their state, their unique population. as --e the most ethnically diverse, populous state in the country. that poses health care challenges. i trust the governors, republican or democrat, because they know that people, unlike the people in congress who are accountable to no one -- they said 13% of the american people

approve of the job congress is doing. i will tell you something, the only thing that surprised me was who are those 13%? who are the 13 percent going, hey, that looks good? i like that. government that is most close to the people is the government that is most effective and on health care, we should not allow the federal government to take over this. next president has to change it, but they have to change it by also addressing the health care needs of the american people. that's the way it should be done. that is the best way to do change and to bring opportunity. all right. let's get that gentleman right here for the last question. she's coming up right behind. >> thank you for coming to new hampshire. gov. christie: thank you, sir.

on h1v is your opinion visas. disney laid off their staff. pacific gas & electric laid off theirs. i think it's wrong. i am an i.t.. it's not helping jobs. gov. christie: here's the thing. not only visas. we have an immigration system that does not emphasize quality. it does not emphasize fairness. it does not emphasize the playing -- we spent most of our time, unfortunately talking about the border situation. i have talked in detail about what we need to do. i'm not going to respond to your question going through that. we've spent a heck of a lot of time talking about that. is, we need to talk

about legal immigration. and what are we going to do about legal immigration and how to make sure it is controlled in a way that benefits our country. we have not had that conversation. we are not even talking about it. i will tell you, this is my 17th town hall meeting. you're the first person who is asked me. -- who has asked me. >> [indiscernible] gov. christie: we also need to make sure that the american workers getting a fair shake. right now, folks feel like this immigration system, no matter where you are -- whether you are a system -- a person like

, we have a system that does not take their interest into account, is not fair. and is not fair to people outside the country, either. so, i think what we need to be able to do is first secured the southern border. what did talk about the visa problem for the seven border. we cannot have that conversation until we deal with the issue. here is the last thing. i think protecting the american worker is extraordinarily important. it's hard to get jobs for anybody right now. no matter who you are. seenso do not want to be as an anti-immigrant party in

our country. my grandfather was born on the and unitedn italy states. imagine that. my great-grandfather was having trouble getting 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's 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. we don't want that part of our country to be 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. >> my fiancé 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 doesn't have 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, but members of my legislature do. i'm not asking for a pension but they should not be getting one either. [applause] we blew it as 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 and instead, they make special rules for themselves. i don't understand why we, as the 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 we do, 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 -- and 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.

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.