and by the way, before i answer that question, i just want to mention that many in the press will say that i am sensitive and you know, i should not be thinking about running for office because i get offended by what they do. of course they will say that. but the reason that i expose the press is because i want the people of america to understand it is not because i am sensitive. i will continue to expose them every time they do something. as more people understand who they are and what they are doing, it will negate their affect until they have the kind of transformation that is necessary for them to become allies of the people. we have to know what they are doing. -- trump?f

how could i forget? [laughter] trump hasthat donald been very useful because he has brought in a lot of people, a lot of curiosity and enthusiasm. and whoever the eventual nomination is, will benefit from that, even if it is him. and that is a good thing. that is one of the reasons i do not talk about him or anyone else. in terms of a vice president, i would want someone who is compatible with me. i would not necessarily be looking for someone that could bring in this demographic or that demographic because the things that have to be done are very serious things called -- bury serious things, quite frankly. we have to go to the heart of the matter and we do not have a lot of time to do that.

it would have to be someone who is very compatible, who understands the urgency of what we are doing and who is willing to suffer the slings and arrows to get it done. that is what it will take. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please give a round of applause to our speaker. [applause] >> i would also like to thank staff members of the national press club and journalism institute for the work they did in preparing for today's event. for a copy of today's program or to learn more about the national press club, go to that website, press.org. thank you. we are adjourned. wednesday, democratic

presidential candidate and former maryland governor martin o'malley talked about immigration reform at the congressional hispanic caucus in the tooth public policy conference. following the deadly shootings in oregon, he also spoke of the need for common sense and control. this is about 25 minutes. [applause] 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] mr. o'malley: i know that one of the big issues that challenges us today as a people, one of the issues that has allowed us to become 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 belief thatakable 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. before i do 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 proliferations of guns and illegal guns in our society as a people. i cannot be 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 purchase them. and fourth, we should make illegal gun trafficking a federal crime in the united states of america. [applause] mr. o'malley: 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,at we governed that 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

buries 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 largely about a few other issues. in particular, i'd like to focus on the american dream. i laid out 15 strategic 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. this invaluable institute. 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. from my home state of maryland, where is he? [applause]

mr. o'malley: elias is a chci public fellow. he was born and raised in el salvador. elias moved to silver spring as a teenager to reunite with his parents. in short order, 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] mr. o'malley: perez herrera is from las vegas. [applause] mr. o'malley: born in mexico, she grew up in las vegas. hearing disparaging comments about immigrants from the other kids in school.

today, she is a campus leader, a chci intern, and a proud fighter for citizenship rights for herself and millions of americans like her. she relies on doca and she is exactly why we need to do so much more. thank you for your leadership. they are the voices in our 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 immigrants, saying things that run contrary to the common humanity we share as a people. elias and elsie represent more positive voices. and more numerous. i have news for people like donald trump and those in the republican party who say these hateful things. and it is this.

, in our country, there's no such thing as an illegal person. babies do not come shaped like anchors. [applause] mr. o'malley: and almost all of us had to make our way here at some point, overland, oversee. we came here or our parents did for our grandparents or great-grandparents. in other words 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. our better days are ahead of us because of our diversity and the arrival of new americans in every single generation. [applause] mr. o'malley: 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 mines of southwest arizona to feed their families, to give their grandchildren a better future. new 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. think about it there's not , another nation on the planet that has earned that brand, the land of opportunity. for many years, i had very intentionally and repeatedly used the term as an executive, mayor of a big city, 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. but i suppose the truth of that,

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 immigrant 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 the elias family, that dream made 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 fought 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] 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. we did it with 59% of the votes of the people of maryland. [applause] mr. o'malley: 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 earn, the better our economy does. we expanded drivers licenses to new american emigrants because ntsnew american immigra 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. that effort was helped by our first labor commissioner. during my two terms as governor, 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 marylanders 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 associates and bachelors 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. but -- [speaking spanish] i've actually done it. [applause] mr. o'malley: i've actually done it.

that's what you learn to do as an executive. we created real opportunity in maryland. we invested in our people. 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. together, we made the dream real for more and more families. 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. e pluribus unum. out of many, we are one. 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] mr. o'malley: i will overhaul 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. our country has come along way.

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 passing comprehensive immigration reform. i intend to campaign on it. [applause] mr. o'malley: i 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. mmigrants.rican i 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."

his hate is exceeded only by his paranoia. he will say we need to bring back the dunking tanks and look for witches. you can dismiss donald trump as the racist he is, but he has infected the entire republican field of candidates and they want to be like him. trump uses the epithet, anchor baby, 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. and being treated poorly. i want to speak to you about your fellow americans from puerto rico. [applause] mr. o'malley: and our neighbors in this hemisphere on the island of hispanola. 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

collapse. 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. under the u.s. bankruptcy code. 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] mr. o'malley: on the island of hispanola, where mass 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 ethnic background and we shouldn't remain silent when such injustice is being perpetrated in our own hemisphere. speaking up is the right thing to do. we must all demand action. [applause] mr. o'malley: 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 who i am and that's how i led and that's how i will continue to lead. i want to leave you with this story. 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 worse, pen them up behind 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 immigrants. 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. i spoke 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] mr. o'malley: 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. one 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 deprivation 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. emmanuel, 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 immigrants. 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] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

our road to the white house coverage of the presidential candidates continues from new hampshire, monday morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern, live coverage from the problem solver convention in manchester. there will be eight democratic presidential candidate talking about the issues of race -- reuniting the country, securing social security, and medicare and making america energy to care. on tuesday afternoon, we are live with ohio governor john kasich as he's weeks at a town hall meeting in new hampshire. on wednesday, live at 7:00 p.m. eastern, jeb bush will speak at a town hall meeting in concord. c-span campaign 2016, taking you on the road to the white house on c-span, c-span radio, and c-span.org. >> next, q and a with author and senator, garyo

hart. and then prime minister cameron addresses his organization. and then bernie sanders and hillary clinton talk to the congressional hispanic caucus. ♪ >> this week on q&a, former u.s. senator and presidential candidate gary hart. mr. hart discusses his book, the republic of conscience where he argues our political system has been consumed are the kind of corruption avoided by our founding fathers. brian: senator gary hart, you have a book out called republic of conscience. conscience. why a book on the subject? gary: two reasons. washingtonrmation of in t0