with sworn in, i sat down legislative council, i had been on the legislative counsel before, and we wrote the post 9/11 g.i. bill. i introduced it my first day in office. people were saying, one day in the senate, why should we pass this comprehensive veterans educational program that has not generated out of the veterans committee itself? there were others, quite frankly, the bush administration, and some of my very good friends like john mccain, who were opposed to the idea. they were saying, if you give that generous a program to the veterans, they will want to get out of the military. it will affect the number of retention. i spent five years at the pentagon, i worked in manpower.

my view of this was the other way around. if you can incentivize people coming into the military, knowing that at the end of it, they will have this kind of an educational opportunity, you will actually expand the recruitment pool. it will not affect the retention pools. we had a 16 month period where, in our office, we worked with the veterans groups closely, listening to them with the different portions in the legislation, taking their suggestions to improve it. we also developed a leadership model, in terms of a prototype, if you would, in terms of how you get things done in the united states senate. i developed a four senator group

that we used, in terms of talking to the democrats and republicans. senator warren, i actually served on his staff when i was a 25-year-old marine in the pentagon. frank lautenberg, new jersey, democratic side. he was a world war ii veteran. we approached our fellow senators as to democrats, to republicans, to world war ii republicans, to vietnam veterans saying, this is what he's people need, deserve, and have earned in their service. this was not easy, looking back .n it, it seems rather logical in terms of its success, it has been phenomenal. we have now more than a million host 9/11 veterans that have been able to use the program.

we pushed it forward as a veteransn group of working with our colleagues, holding press conferences, bringing in the groups who would be affected by it, and after 16 months, we passed the most significant piece of veterans legislation since world war ii at a time when congress, the legislative branch, was quite paralyzed, frankly. i'm very proud of that and think it is a leadership hurt inside that works, even in a paralyzed governmental system. the second issue was criminal justice reform, a completely different issue, in terms of the philosophical challenges, and giving a challenges true debate between the left and right in the country between

what to do with the different problems in our criminal justice system. i started speaking out on this when i was running for the senate, i had spent time working in japan. we started collecting data. i started saying, this needs to be fixed. political had consultants tie me to stop it, saying, you are running in virginia, you are committing political suicide. data, make, to the the research, take the hits, that is what a leader is supposed to do. we started working on criminal justice reform from our office. as soon as i arrived in the

senate, we were able to get hearings on the joint economic committee, which i was a member of. wereearings we focused on what is the impact of mass incarceration? drugs inu analyze america and some of the consequences of hard-core drug use? seminars.at we had a session we did with george mason university, bringing people from both sides .f the issue together he said, i'm amazed, i can't get .ou to stop talking

we brought in the constituent groups, the same way we did with the g.i. bill program. we brought people in from across the philosophical spectrum, more than 100 of them. .e listen to them because by and, finally, all across the political spectrum, that this country needed a national commission to get the best lines of america together to come and and tell us how to fix this broken system that is putting so may people into prison, and at the same time, we are not solving these problems communitiesping our less secure. we wrote a proposal for a

national cable justice system. we got a buy-in all the way to the national sheriffs chiefs ofn, the police, although a over to the american civil liberties union. i think it is only build the i have seen the guts of the senate floor where we had a buy-in from across the political spectrum. we got to the senate floor when they were filibustering everything. they said they would shut everything down. this was late 2011. simplea $14 million .ational commission we got 57 votes. we needed 60. we had bipartisan support, by the way.

lost. there were two things that came out of the fact that we lost. number one, we had succeeded in bringing this issue into the national debate, and in a way that was not being discussed before. instead of people saying to me or other senators, you are committing suicide by talking about it, let's talk about it. i think the people who filibustered on this one were ashamed. they were ashamed by their own philosophical allies. the national review online said it was insane to filibuster such a common sense piece of legislation. those are the approaches that can be taken on issues that need to be resolved, and the key and both of them, i think if i were to make three or four points --

get your facts straight, take the leadership role, be willing to take the hits at the alliances,build listen across-the-board. [applause] >> we are going to take a couple of questions from the audience. >> hi, senator. first of all, i would like to o thank you for your service to the country. [applause] as a fiscally

conservative democrat, i have heard you described as the same way, how does a fiscally conservative democrat work on balancing the budget, specifically if you could get into office, and have a debate coming up tomorrow night, how do you make a splash so the rest of the country can hear what you have to say? i have a long series of positions i have taken. i'm getting a big echo, by the way, from the argue in your room -- from the audio in your room. thank you for the question. we have tomorrow night to discuss a lot of these issues audience that will finally be able to listen to the views i have taken, and my hope for restoring the kind of strong , bipartisan, salty of problems

in this country which is what we desperately need as a national political system. >> thank you for taking the questions. i apologize for the feedback. before you came on air, we had a very interesting for on fixing politics. got quite a big applause for term limits. i think some of the things that bother the average voter here in new hampshire is that congress has set themselves up as an elite class of american citizens. .hey get lifetime salary they can participate in a lifetime health care. they do not have to pay social security. yet, they are making decisions for us that they themselves do not have to support.

what would you do should you become president to limit the amount of time that congress has, and to take away some of these are in benefits? thank you. thank you for your question. say, first of all, i have a similar concern to one that you mention. off with howstarts money has affected our political process. result, it also affects people on all sides of the issue that you mentioned. stay in, andg to compromise on their views of raising money, and what happens when people leave the system. with respect to term limits, here is a question i would have for the american people.

the voters have the ultimate power when it comes to term limits. my own situation is that i have been in and out of public service by choice in my career. , but atn urge to serve would not wanti to do this without taking a step that and live in a world the political system creates, and do interesting things. i would not trade opportunities, , for the time i had inside public office. prisoners in japanese

prisons. i was there in beirut. i was in afghanistan in 2004. i've been able to do some fascinating things with the other side of my life. after a while, i feel compelled oreome back and put my in the water, and keep our country great. the voters have that power. when you are looking at different candidates, the question is obviously how can someone be elected when the financial systems seem rigged to keeping incumbents. by the way, there are a lot of fine incumbents. the issue you raise is an important issue. if you cannot find good people to run, it is very difficult to yearsk, six years, eight is enough. i don't think we should do that as a matter of law. we should do it as a matter of citizenship. >> thank you. the gentleman right here.

can you give us your name and where you are from. >> patrick sweeney, cleveland, ohio. you did not seek another term, i don't know why you didn't. everybody is talking about the debt, and the debt, clarifying the debt. i want to know how the debt was incurred. behad a surplus projected to $6 trillion in 2015, and then it just evaporated. no one wants to talk about how it evaporated. now we are up against a $19 trillion debt. i don't understand how all of this happen, and there is no discussion about it. i don't want to put that burden on you, but it ought to be discussed. you are candidate for president, and i think it would be very helpful. webb: there is a lot of discussion about it. in fact, the senate and the monthss really spent

during the 2011-2012 period discussing this, to appoint where the economic system was in danger of being shutdown by votes on the national debt, which really reverberated through the international community. the national debt has been an issue for a long time. we have an obligation to grow .ur economy a lot of money that is overseas right now, help by corporations that do not have incentives to bring it back in, and invest in our economy in other ways to bring discipline into the federal budget process. it has been necessary to increase the national debt in

order to fund operations that are currently in play in the government. it is not an issue the eye, or anyone else, can say, i am going to resolve it, but i think the i am willing to put in place will work to resolve it. with respect to not running for reelection, i would go back to the previous question. i think it is healthy for people to do public service a while, and then step back, and reflect, and regain philosophical independence, and live in the world of politics creates. , im the time i was a marine didn't. i did after spending four years in the pentagon. i did it after a term in the senate. remember, a term in the senate is six years.

that is 1.5 terms of the president. we did great things, but i felt it was good to step back. i just have to say, there are a few people that have come up to me. they want you to come to new hampshire. you have to come back. i know you were supposed to come up, and we had some problems with your flight getting an, but you have a lot of support here. people want to see you. we have another question. >> thank you. my name is oliver spencer. i'm from concord, new hampshire. say, we are very thankful you are on tv, but we would very much like you do, p are, and show the entire state what an american -- an amazing american you are, and what you are the best commander in chief we could have. i did 24 years in the marines, i retired about three years ago. after retiring, i decided to go back to school and use the 9/11

g.i. bill to get my nba at at unh.ba i did for taurus and iraq. tours in iraq. that 9/11 bill is so amazing. i know it was a lot of fighting and compromising. i think that should be expanded to the college students that debt toce college broaden that. that educational benefit is so amazing for public service. we all know not everyone is cut out for the military, but there are a lot of folks that

conservative and other capacities, and be fantastic. let's expand that, and give them all the same benefits. maybe extend a little more than 4-6 years of service before they get to use it, but again, my experience with the g.i. bill was absolutely amazing. i'm not passing it off to my kids. they have to earn it themselves. i want to thank you again for being here. we are ready for you here in new hampshire. senator webb: thank you very much. i'm looking forward to getting back in new hampshire and making more visits. we did have a situation -- i can, it is a little different when we are running out here on the campaign, we don't have the money that a lot of other campaigns do. can sendn people who us a little bit of money through the internet. when you do not have money, you

do not have your own executive jet. i envy mr. trump, at least in that area of his existence. we do have a situation in august when flights were canceled -- not delayed, but canceled -- on a trip i was going to make to new hampshire. i will be back, and i look forward to meeting with those of you who want to come and talk to .s let me say this, you did four tours in iraq, you earned that she had bill. bill.t g.i. you make sacrifices that stay with you in your life. i know something about the battlefield. i taught as a marine in vietnam. i'm so proud of my son who left

school to go serve and was in ramadi during those bad times. that is a special program. tois a program designed assist those who serve and transition back into civilian life. these other to situations that you mention, we why to get our arms around college costs so much now. that is number one. again, thank you for your service, and i look forward to seeing you in new hampshire. [applause] >> we have one more. webbw is it going, senator ? i'm brendan. newrve right here in hampshire. service is something i'm very passionate about. with that said, presidents in passedt have fought and

so many things to expand national service. question is to you, would you continue that legacy? senator webb: i thank you for that question. for a been saying this number of years. country,laces in this people in this country, who are forgotten, who simply do not fit into the normal matrix of how our economic decisions are made. one of the best things we can do , and whether it is in an area like west baltimore that has been so ravage, or the appalachian mountains, where my dad's family came out of, there are people out there that are are notbecause there

jobs, or the educational opportunities are not the same way. for so many, they have to leave the area that they love for a chance at success. the question that you raised is one very good way that we can do something about those situations. that is to get young people, who are coming out of school, make a commitment for a period of time, and make some programs so those who have been able to make it through the educational system can get back into these areas, energizedegenerate, these communities. kind of adesign that program, it is a great way to have educational assistance and loan forgiveness that would go along with that sort of activity. >> i'm being told to make this the last question, but this is a veteran that once to ask a

question, and i can't say no. please, very quickly, sir. skipper.fternoon, i too am retired marine with a bachelors degree that i got with my g.i. bill. i agree about the herman does college debts -- horrendous college debts. my topic for the folks you will be debating against tomorrow night, they have completely devastated our veterans administration. it is on their watch. we need help in the veterans administration medical field, both physical and psychological help. thank you, sir. [applause] you for your thank

service to our country. .s a fellow marine with respect to the v.a., i would say, i have been working on veterans issues for a very long time. i served as counsel of the house budget committee in 1977-1981 after i had left the marine corps and finish law school. i was very fortunate during that period to be mentors by our who were ii veterans, the first ones to have programs like the g.i. bill and became experts in title 38 programs, which are the veterans programs. i learned about the obligations in terms of veterans legislation, and how veterans administration should function. it was a real struggle for me. during my time in the senate, i

was on the veterans committee. to see the numbers grow, particularly when it came to toklog on claims, and access quality care, which, by the way, most of our va hospital, once you get in the system, i believe, deliver quality care. these are li leadershi problems. >> live now to new hampshire where the buses is arriving where john kasich will be speaking.

>> live in bow, new hampshire, a townhall set to get underway with governor john kasich. governor kasich is counting on undecided voters as he runs for the republican nomination. homes in new hampshire are to the first primary. umously undecided