the null select panel and second by the judiciary committee. c-span, wrote to the white house coverage of martin o'malley and bernie sanders. later, the house considers creating a panel to investigate allegations of the mishandling of aborted fetal tissue. democratic presidential candidates martin o'malley and bernie sanders spoke at the congressional hispanic caucus institute public policy conference in washington. in his remarks, former governor o'malley talked about immigration and the shootings in oregon. this part of the conference is 25 minutes. mr. o'malley: thank you very much.

good afternoon. it is wonderful to be here with all of you. i want to thank your chair, congresswoman linda sanchez. big round of applause for congresswoman sanchez. i want to thank all of you for the important work you do and the important work of chci and i want to talk with you in our short time together about the american dream, about its importance, about its truth, about the responsibility we have to reinvigorate it and make it real around the kitchen tables of every family in america. my name is martin o'malley. i'm a lifelong democrat. i am running for president. i intend to win. and i need your help to rebuild that american dream. [applause] i know that one of the big issues that challenges us today as a people, one of the issues that has allowed us to

,ecome the land of opportunity to build up a strong economy, is the issue of immigration. for me, i believe that issue comes down to human dignity. that unshakable early that we have maintained as a people for 240 years in the human dignity of every person. our country, our health, our strength, derives from the truth that we understand that in our nation, there's no such thing as a spare american. each of us is needed and we have to help each other if we are going to succeed. today, i want to share with you my vision for that new and better future. i wanted to share with you also the critically important role that our new american neighbors play in making it real. i want to touch on something that i think all of us must acknowledge, which also cuts to the value that we put on every human life. that is this very painful truth.

as a nation, we have failed to respond to the continued, deadly reality of the proliferation's of guns and illegal guns in our society as a people. in front of a gathering of this many americans without touching on this at the outset. especially given the tragedy we saw in oregon last week. i'm challenging every democrat who is running for our party's nomination and seeking the highest office in this land of president of the united states to join me in forging a new consensus for common sense gun safety legislation that has four specific gun safety provisions. number one, we should ban the sale of combat assault weapons in our country. [applause] mr. o'malley: secondly, we

should require everyone who buys a gun to go through universal background checks with fingerprints and be licensed in order to do so. [applause] mr. o'malley: third, we should use the purchasing power of our federal government, the largest purchaser of guns in this country, to insist that gun manufacturers implement the highest and best safety technology in all of their firearms, in order for us to do business and purchased them. and fourth, we should make illegal gun trafficking a federal crime in the united states of america. [applause] one american life is worth more than all of the guns and all of the gun sales and all of the money from them that can be generated in this

country. it's time that the governed that way, that we make choices that are in keeping with our principles as a people. it is easy to follow polls. it is more difficult to forge a new consensus. but every election is an opportunity for deeper understanding. that the understanding can lead to better actions. we are the only advanced nation on this planet that has the sickness of gun violence and berries this many of our sons and daughters. it is time to change it. we can do that in this democratic primary and this democratic debate. let me talk to you a little more issues about a few other . in particular, i'd like to focus on the american dream. i laid out 15 goals for restoring the truth of that american dream three weeks ago. one of them was gun safety and cutting crimes of violence in half. another one was searching for

comprehensive immigration reform. i have a tremendous amount of respect for the leadership of the congressional hispanic caucus. i want to acknowledge some of the extraordinary young people in chci whose stories are exactly what it means to be an american, and is what this battle for immigration and citizenship are really all about. maryland,me state of where is he? [applause] chci'malley: elias is a public fellow. he was born and raised in el salvador. elias moved to silver spring as a teenager to reunite with his parents. he learned english, became the first in his family to attend college, then put his degree to

work in the cause of justice. that's truly the american dream. [applause] perez herrera is from las vegas. [applause] mexico,lley: born in she grew up in las vegas. today, she is a campus leader, a chci in, and a proud fighter for citizenship rights for herself and millions of americans like her. ca and she is do exactly why we need to do so much more. thank you for your leadership. our are the voices in policies today. [applause]

mr. o'malley: i know that there are voices in our politics today who are saying some pretty hateful things about new american emigrants, saying things that run contrary to the common humanity we share as a people. elsie represent more positive voices. i have news for people like donald trump and those in the republican party who say these hateful things. it is this. in our country, there's no such thing as an illegal person. babies do not come shaped like anchors. [applause] and almost all of us had to make our way here at some point, overland, oversee. didame here or our parents for our grandparents or great-grandparents. we are a good, compassionate,

generous people and we are a nation of immigrants. we wouldn't be such a strong nation and a beacon of hope to the world unless we were a diverse nation of immigrants. our diversity is our strength. better days are ahead of us because of our diversity and the arrival of new americans in every single generation. [applause] there's nothing more american in my mind than to come here to live the american dream. that's what my great-grandfather did. his name was also martin o'malley. many of you might know about the irish. a shame, a whole race of people, but only seven first names. [laughter] mr. o'malley: he came here back in the late 1800s without any money. his first language was not english, it was irish.

he was a stranger in a strange land. but the hopes and dreams he had for his children were purely american. starting from zero, like so many americans today, he worked beside a lot of other new americans who risked their lives in the minds of arizona to feed their families, to give their grandchildren a better future. americans today have very similar experiences, the same drive, the same spirit, the same love of family and country that builds our nation up. it is a spirit that has always made us a land of opportunity. there's not another nation on the planet that has earned that brand, the land of opportunity. veryany years, i had intentionally and repeatedly ,sed the term as an executive mayor of obesity, and governor, i've used the term "new americans." the genius of our country is not

so much where you came from, it's where you're going, and where we are all going together. there was a time when my great-grandfather arrived here, when he was greeted with signs that said, "help wanted: no irish need apply." i always kept a sign like that on my desk as mayor and as governor as a reminder that we were all once strangers in a strange land. that,suppose the truth of the larger truth, is that we find ways to help each other. that's why i've always seen in the eyes of our new american emigrant neighbors, the eyes of parents that i've never met. the cause we share is the same. the beliefs we share are the same. a belief in the dignity of every person. a belief in our own responsibility to strengthen our

common good. that is the dream made real by family, that remains it real by the perez herrera family. a dream made real by my own family and every family who loves their children and is willing to work to give them a better future. it is in short, the american dream made real. as governor of maryland, i thought to make that dream real every day. we didn't wait for the polls to tell us it was ok to do so. we did this by including more people in the economic, social, and political life of our state, our city, our country. that's our formula for greatness. we didn't wait for the federal government to act. we pursued our own dream act to ensure that dreamers could have access to affordable higher education. [applause] and after that mr. o'malley: and after i signed

it into law, our republican brothers and sisters petitioned it to referendum in an effort to defeat it at the polls. we made our case on human dignity and the common good we share, and we turned around those polls and succeeded in passing the dream act at the ballot, the first state ever to do so. votes it with 59% of the of the people of maryland. [applause] and this was not merely a victory for the dreamers. it was a victory for maryland's future. the more our people learn, the more they will learn, the better our economy does. we expanded drivers licenses to new american emigrants because people need to get to and from work safely and obey the rules of the road. at the start of my administration, i established the new americans commission to highlight and welcome the skills that were being brought to our

state by new american immigrants from numerous countries. was done by our first labor commissioner. governor,two terms as we increased government contracts to latino-owned businesses by 154%. we became the first state in the nation to pass a living wage. we expanded the earned income tax credit not once, but twice. we raised the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour so that by 2016, hundreds of thousands of maryland are's have finally gotten a raise. we closed college tuition. we did a good job keeping down the cost of college tuition, which helped hispanic students as well. they earned twice as many degrees during my service as governor as they had in the eight years before. [applause]

mr. o'malley: we also worked to keep maryland's unemployment rate among hispanic workers down to one of the lowest in the nation. anyone can talk about these things and can make promises. -- [speaking spanish] i've actually done it. [applause] i've actually done it. that's what you learn to do as an executive. we created real opportunity in maryland. we did it by including more people in the economic and social life of our country. we didn't make it harder for people to vote. we made it easier. here's what i believe we must do in order to break the impasse and actually pass comprehensive immigration reform.

first, we are and always have been a nation of immigrants. unum.ibus it is in the best interest of the economy of the united states and the security of the united states for us to reform a system that is irrational, in human, unjust, and holds down wages for all americans. we must pass comprehensive immigration reform. and i intend to begin as president by providing immediate and further relief to the millions of new americans whose hopes have been dashed because congress has failed to do its job. in all but the most extraordinary circumstances, immigrant detention must end and it must end forever. [applause] mr. o'malley: those inhumane centers, detention centers, must be shuttered. government contracts with for-profit prisons are a bad

policy and must be ended. [applause] overhaulley: i will the u.s. immigration system by creating an independent agency to set policy instead of continuing this perpetual fight. this is about our values as americans. it is also about creating an economy that works for all of us, bringing our neighbors out of the shadow and into the light of an open and inclusive american economy. it is about making wages go up for all americans. we are creating jobs again. 67 months in a row. but we need to get wages going up and one of the ways that we do that and rebuild the american dream is bypassing comprehensive immigration reform. i intend to campaign on it. [applause] know that many leaders within the republican party vilify, scapegoat, seek every opportunity they can to

speak ill of new americans, and they have fought tooth and nail against immigration reform. i know that many of us have been offended at the hateful things donald trump has said about new american emigrants. i don't find it funny. i don't find it entertaining. i find it harmful to the spirit of america. trump calls all new americans from mexico "rapists and drug dealers and murderers." 's hate is exceeded only by his paranoia. to bringay we need back the dunking tanks and look for witches. donald trumpss as a racist he is, but he has infected the entire republican field of candidates and they want to be like him. trump uses the epithet and jeb bush uses it as well. say what you will about george w. he never proposed administering

citizen ship tests to newborn infants. from would build a terrific wall on the border with mexico. another republican candidate says we should build one on canada as well. apparently to keep out the metric system. [laughter] mr. o'malley: it is long past time that we remember who we are and what we stand for as a people. we are a compassionate and generous people. the enduring symbol of our nation is not the barbed wire fence. it is the statue of liberty. [applause] mr. o'malley: as a leader of nations, we must improve our relationships with like-minded people here in our own american hemisphere. maybe it's irish sensitivity, but i have a soft spot for island people who are getting a raw deal. i want to speak to you about your fellow americans from

puerto rico. [applause] and our neighbors in this hemisphere on the island of espanola. boriquas have been our fellow citizens for almost 100 years. they have contributed to our economy, fought and died to defend our country. today, they are suffering through the worst economic and fiscal crisis in the island's history. we must not let their economy collapsed. i led the field of candidates in our party in calling for congress to approve legislation, giving puerto rico the same ability to negotiate with its creditors that states have. i led the field in calling on the department of health and human services to end the inequitable treatment of puerto rico, where they pay the same in taxes but get back pennies on the dollar when it comes to medicare, medicaid, and the affordable care act. we all need to stand with puerto

rico and demand action. [applause] on the island of massnola, where deportations have already begun, i was the first and so far the only presidential candidate to call on the united states to work with our allies in the united nations to use our diplomatic might to stop this atrocious affront to human rights in our own hemisphere. we wouldn't tolerate the expulsion of citizens without due process based on skin color and we shouldn't remain silent when such injustice is being perpetrated in our own hemisphere. speaking of is the right thing to do. we must all demand action. [applause] the people of our world care a lot more about what we do then about what we say. that is why i pledge to you that

i will always act in accordance with my principles and guided by the better angels of our country . that's uim and that's how i led and that's how i will continue to lead. i want to leave you with this lasts rate. many of you will remember the scene last year when refugee children were fleeing death gangs and traveling at great risk to their lives over the desert north from guatemala and honduras and el salvador, fleeing these murderous gangs. when children arrive on our doorstep fleeing starvation and death gangs, we must not turn our backs. we must not turn them away, or of behind them chain-link and barb wire fencing in conditions that look more like those you might see at your local humane society then you

would see in a humane country. no. we must act like the compassionate and generous people we have always been. i said at the time that we should care for these children decently and with respect for the dignity of every child, caring for them in foster homes, not in detention camps. some governors around the country spoke of these children like they were a swarm of invading jackrabbits. we took a different tactic in maryland. i spoke to the goodness of our people. i said we would do our part to alleviate the suffering. one of my advisors warned me at the time. he said that he himself was the son of new american emigrants. he said, i love what you said about the refugee kids, but i have to tell you, i'm not sure how this one's going to turn out. well, i did. truthfully to the

goodness in every american heart . the people rally. faith leaders from every faith in our state came together to accommodate through foster care more children per capita in maryland from central america than any other state in the united states. it was the right thing to do and the people of my state supported it. [applause] and here's the other part of that story. a few months later, when we held our traditional annual public open house, my wife and i stood in front of the christmas tree greeting a whole stream of citizens that came through to shake hands and say hello. .ne gentleman came up to me there was a 13-year-old boy with him. he said, mr. governor, i want to introduce you to emmanuel. he is 13 and he is one of those refugee children who just came here from guatemala that you

helped. and the little boy who had braved the desert and ,eprivation and death and worse he came up to me and he shook my hand and then very quickly grabbed me around the waist in an embrace that i will never, ever forget. , god is with us. that little boy's dream is our dream. it is the dream of everything that's ever been possible in this beautiful and generous and compassionate country. you know who believes firmly in the american dream and does not submit to the pessimism and cynicism that many other americans do? it is new american emigrants. everyone who has ever risked their life to get here and make a better way believes in the american dream, will do anything

to defend it and make it real, and defend and protect our country. i believe it. you believe it. better days are ahead of us. together, let us fight to make it true. thank you very, very much. [applause] >> now, more from the congressional hispanic caucus institute public policy conference with presidential candidate bernie sanders. he talks about immigration, the economy, and campaign-finance rules. this is 50 minutes. [applause] mr. sanders: thank you.

let me thank congresswoman grisham for that warm introduction. i also want to thank congresswoman linda sanchez and for hostings staff me here today, and thank all of you very much for being here. reason i am running for president is that this country faces some enormously serious problems. one could argue that if you include the crisis regarding climate change, there are more serious problems today than in any time since the great depression. and i know that much of the media thinks of politics as how much money you raise or what

you're spending is, or what kind of dumb thing you said last understandall of you that politics is in fact about the future of our country, what happens to tens and tens and tens of millions of people, many of whom are hurting today. what i hope all of you understand, and i know you do or you would not be here tonight, you would not be participating in the political process, is that if we do not bring people together, if we do not engage people in serious discussion, if we do not significantly increase the voter turnout, not good things will happen to our country. so what i ask of all of you is to engage in that debate, make sure that we have one of the highest voter turnouts in the world, not one of the lowest voter turnouts, and that we in

fact start addressing some of the real problems facing our country. what i want to do today is touch on a few of those issues. the first one i want to touch on is the need for real immigration reform. i also want to talk about the stain of racism which has existed in this country and in the world for god knows how many years, and i want to talk about the economic reality which faces our country, and that is we have a middle-class which for the last 40 years has been disappearing, and we have massive levels of income and wealth inequality that we have got to address. knows, we have lived

stain of racism on all of human existence. aboutown case, i know racism and what it means. my father lost much of his family in europe as a result of the holocaust. he came to this country at the age of 17 not speaking a word of english. the first point we have to make is a commitment to end institutional racism in this country. [applause] let me just say this, there can be disagreement among honest people about immigration reform. i will tell you in a moment with

my view is. ist is not acceptable demagoguery. what is not acceptable is attempting to define one group rapists and criminals. that is not the kind of debate and discussion we need in america today. that is racism. that is unacceptable. that's got to be in. -- to be rejected. [applause] one of the great strengths of werica, people don't realize are a nation of many people of many colors, backgrounds, of many languages. in my view, that makes us a stronger nation, not a weaker nation.

this is something we should be proud of. my dad came from poland. many of your parents came from other countries. aen we stand together as people, and we bring our different cultures together, we create a nation of extraordinary capabilities which becomes stronger because of our diversity, something we should be proud of. [applause] as i mentioned, my father came from portland without a nickel in his pocket -- poland without a nickel in his pocket. he never made a lot of money. i grew up in a rent-controlled apartment in brooklyn, new york. her mother's dream was someday she would be able to own her own

house. she died young, never achieve that dream. my dad was the proudest american you could ever see, because he understood the opportunities this great country gave him and his family. the fact a very poor young man from flint could see his kids go ofcollege was something enormous consequence for our family. know, we have 11 million people in this country who are undocumented. countryhom came to this to improve their lives, to escape repression, to flee poverty and violence.

let us be frank about an issue we don't talk about enough, that is that today's undocumented workers play an important role in our economy. without these workers, it is likely much of our agricultural system would collapse. the simple reality. [applause] today undocumented workers are doing the extremely difficult crops, harvesting our building our homes, cooking our meals, and caring for our children. in fact, they are part of the fabric of america. let me just take a moment to tell you a story about my

with undocumented workers. 2007, i learned about the exploitation in florida. anybody from florida? have you heard of immokalee, florida? that is a town where a lot of the tomatoes are grown. low-grade tomatoes used in mcdonald's and and burger king. the people who harvest to those crops are undocumented by and large. arrived, the day i came to immokalee, florida, the u.s. attorney was announcing an

contractorsf some who employed people who worked in the field, on the grounds of slavery. this was the year 2007. people were being held in involuntary servitude by some contractors on the tomato fields. in immokalee, i saw the conditions in the exploitation undocumented workers lived under. they worked very long and irregular hours for very low wages. housing was abysmal. lives andy of their why they were able to be exploited was they could not stand up for their rights because they had no legal status. that is the simple factor.

this story has a somewhat happy ending. we were able to hold a hearing on this issue when ted kennedy was chairman of the committee. we worked together. , a lot of people doing great work, we ended up improving wages and working conditions. people who aren in this country, they remain and are having and struggling to adequately feed their families. they came to this country to escape gang violence and desperate economic conditions. also be clear on raising an issue that is not talked about very much.

that is when people come across the border, they know there are .mployers who will hire them if anyone thinks employers throughout this country do not know the workers they are hiring and in many cases exploiting are undocumented, you don't know the history of america for the last 50 years. [applause] so where do we go from here? the 2013ed comprehensive immigration reform legislation in the u.s. senate. complicated piece and it is aon,

piece of legislation that can and must be improved, i believe it provided a responsible path to citizenship so individuals could in fact come out of the shadows and people can walk the streets with safety. people can hold their heads high . people can have the protection of the law and participate fully and without fear in american society. you a story, i was in phoenix a couple of months ago. after i spoke, a number of young latino kids came up and we chatted. there were tears coming down their eyes, their cheeks, as they talked about their fear of being deported or of having their parents deported.

that is not the kind of existence, the kind of fear we want millions of americans, people in this country, to experience. that is why we must pass comprehensive immigration reform. [applause] as many of you know, the senate bill attempted to accomplish this important goal. overdueew, the time is for many of my republican colleagues to end the demagoguery and take up serious immigration reform. [applause] the senate bill contained the provisions of the dream act, which i strongly support.

it is my believe we should recognize the young men and women who comprise the dreamers for what they are. they are american kids who deserve the right to be in the country they know as home. [applause] that is not to say i do not have significant criticisms of this long and complicated piece of legislation. i believe the pathway to citizenship was unnecessarily linked to border security triggers, measures that many believe were put in place so the path to citizenship would be for theor even denied millions of undocumented individuals here and i want to change those provisions.

i also believe the penalties and fines in the bill would be an instrument for low income people , preventing them from accessing that path to legal residency and eventual citizenship. to be meaningful, a pathway to citizenship needs to be achievable for the millions of workers at the lower ends of the economic ladder. [applause] these and other barriers in the bill, including the time it decade,ften more than a makes it a flawed piece of legislation which needs significant improvement. in fairness, in a bipartisan way, at least the senate did

something. the time is long overdue for the house to act. [applause] now until we can pass comprehensive immigration reform, and i hope that is sooner than later, we must be aggressive in pursuing policies that are humane and sensible and that keep families together. this includes taking measures that are currently available including using the presidential when it executive order is appropriate. while the senate passed to the dream act, in its immigration bill, and while the house has not acted, president obama did exactly the right thing, through

his executive order, for deferred action for childhood arrivals. [applause] deferred action for parents of americans and lawful residence were good first steps, but should be expanded. should include of dreamers. we should pursue policies that unite families, not tear them apart. obviously the latino community is deeply concerned about the immigration issue, concerned about issues of racism. it like every other group in

america, the latino community may be more than most is deeply concerned about the state of the american economic and political system. let me take a few moments to touch upon that. the economic reality of america yes, we are doing better than we did seven years ago when president bush left office and when we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, when the financial system was on the verge of collapse and we were running up the largest deficit in american history. we are better off today than we were then. but, we should also years,ze for the last 40 40 years, the great middle class

of this country, once the envy of the entire world, has been disappearing. since theccelerated wall street crash of 2008. and while millions of americans working longer hours for low wages, and while youth unemployment is outrageously young peoplele can't afford to go to college, and while we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country on earth, there is another economic reality that is taking place which needs discussion. that is that the wealthiest people in this country and the largest corporations are doing phenomenally well and almost all

of the new income and wealth being created are going to the top 1%. that is a fact. uneasy talkinget about it. it is an issue that has to be put on the table. we need to create an economy that works for all of us. works for seniors, for the children, for working families and not just an economy that works for the top 1%. [applause] at a time when millions of orricans are working two three jobs, to bring in enough income, it is not acceptable that latinos make up more than

16% of our population, but have nation's of the wealth. it is not acceptable youth unemployment in this country has proportions.c i want to say a word on that rarely this is too discussed. i asked some economists to do a study. the study is, tell me the real rate of youth unemployment and underemployment in america is. this is what they reported back. if you are a high school graduate, not a dropout, high school graduate between the ages white,nd 20, if you are unemployment is 33%. if you are hispanic, unemployment is 36%.

if you are african-american, 51%.loyment is what this means is we have millions of young people in this country, people who want to leave their homes, start a career, make some money. become adults. job andthey have no they have no education. thinksody in this room it is a coincidence when we have five and a half million young people not in school and are not working, while missing time we have more people in jail than any other country on earth, if you think that is a coincidence, you would be mistaken. in my view, it makes a lot more

education,vest in invest in jobs, rather than in jail and incarceration. [applause] this is a huge issue. by the way, i want to applaud the president for yesterday announcing that thousands of people in jail for nonviolent crimes will be released. that is exactly the right thing to do. together we must end this dubious distinction of the united states having more people in jail than any other country and we must move to the

distinction of having the best educated population on earth. [applause] as part of that issue, of criminal justice reform, i have introduced legislation to eliminate privately run jails and immigration detention centers. and when you do that, you are ending the quota for detaining undocumented immigrants. corporations should not be making profits on the incarceration of people in this country.

when we talk about our economy, and where it is today, it is first of all the grotesque level .f income inequality today in america the top 1/10 of 1% has almost as much wealth as the bottom 90%. got that? almost as much as the bottom 90%. today with people working long hours, 50 hours a week, 58% of is going to the top 1%. in the last two years in america, the 14th wealthiest people in this country saw their by $156 billion.

that wealth increased in two years. more than the bottom 130 million americans. wow is the right response. [laughter] it is more than wow. it is a moral. it is unsustainable. we have got to change that. [applause] essentially what we have now is a rigged economy which says heads they win, tails you lose. we need an economy and we can build an economy which works for the middle class and that is exactly what together we have got to do. when we talk about the economy, it is not just the grotesque

level of income inequality that has to change. it is also the reality that if you have millions of people working two or three jobs. i talked to aand guy who works for a church group at a farmers market. notecting the food that was sold in taking it to an emergency food shelter. asked, what percentage of the folks who go to that food shelf are working? 90%.nswer was in other words, all over this country, you've got millions of , bute working really hard they are not earning enough money to adequately feed their kids. at the root cause of that

problem, we have a federal an hour.age of $7.25 you can do the arithmetic as well as i can. seven and a quarter by 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, what you will find is that wage is totally inadequate for anybody to survive with a shred of dignity. in my view, when you have a minimum wage which is a starvation wage, we've got to raise the minimum wage to a an hourage that is $15 over the next few years. [applause] and by the way, while everybody benefit,ountry would 60% of latino workers would get

a raise under this proposal. when we talk about the future of our country, we have to live in athat we highly competitive, global economy. and if we are going to do well now and in the future, we need to have the best educated workforce that we can. makes noegard, it have to me that today we hundreds of thousands of the bright young people who are qualified to go to college, but can't go to college for one reason and one reason alone -- that is their families lack the money. that is absurd.

first of all it is unfair to those young people to say to neveryou are probably going to make it into the middle class. you are not going to become an engineer or a doctor, a teacher, whatever. your family lacks the money to get you a higher education. it is also absurd for our country which needs the best to develop, the best intellectual capital that we can. that is why i have introduced legislation and would fight to make happen as president that every public college and university in this country be tuition free. [applause] the reason why that is a big helpis obviously it will

so many working class and middle class families, and it does something else. it tells children in the fourth , to payt to give up attention to their school work, to do their homework because it says any child in america, regardless of his or her income, will be able to get a higher education. that is a big deal. [applause] there is another issue of enormous consequence to this country and touches on every other issue. oft is the fact as a result the disaster in citizens united , ourme court decision

campaign finance system has become corrupt. i use that word advisedly. american democracy is undermined. me thatt acceptable to we have a campaign finance system which allows millionaires and billionaires to contribute as much money as they want into the political process in order to elect candidates whose job in life it is to represent the wealthy and the powerful. the you have one family, with 85 billion dollars. when this one extreme right-wing family will be spending some $900 million in this campaign cycle, which is more money than

the democratic or republican spending, when you have one family out spending either of the major political parties in this country, my friends, you are not talking about democracy, you are talking about oligarchy. that has got to change. when we talk about election reform, a trust that all that you know and i don't need to be overly cognizant that i have to be. in this country today, in is alican states, there very concerted effort to suppress the vote. to make it