[laughter] done,mre: when we are they will open up the doors in the back. refreshments. madam president, you are a leader, a real leader. we all want to say thank you for what your doing, and we want to thank you for being with us today. will you please thank the president. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

announcer: hearing from the president of south korea, park geun-hye. first female president of south korea. she will be meeting at the white house with president obama tomorrow. president obama announcing plans that he will be keeping 5500 u.s. troops in afghanistan through 2017, saying it is necessary because afghan forces are not yet ready to secure their country. at 8:00 on c-span, we show the announcement from earlier today in its entirety. ash carter will answer questions. weekend, theery

c-span networks follow american history, and saturday at 8:30 on cartoonistsorial described their experiences covering the george w. bush administration. then an event honoring the life margaret thatcher on what would have been her 90th birthday. live this saturday morning, at , the 20th annual texas book festival from austin. dennis ross on the relationship between u.s. and israel from the truman through the obama administrations. sunday, our coverage continues thenning at noon with terrorist group isis, and a discussion on artificial intelligence. president lyndon and

lady bird johnson. on american history tv on c-span3 saturday afternoon, a historian on the relationship between richard nixon and the shaw of iran and its ef fect on u.s. foreign-policy. then the confederate flag and its history and relation to the legacy of slavery. www.c-span.org get a complete weekend schedule best get ourorg complete weekend schedule at www.c-span.org. willncer: hillary clinton offer testimony on the house --mittee on the guns he benghazi. we will show the hearing next thursday on c-span3 as well as

season radio, and you can tune into our streaming on www.c-span.org. announcer: c-span takes you on the road to the white house unfiltered access to the candidates, at town hall meetings, news conferences, rallies, and speeches. he will take your comments on twitter, facebook, phone, and every campaign event we cover is available on our website, at www.c-span.org. john kasich unveiled his plan to balance the federal budget in eight years and outlined his agenda for his first hundred days in office if elected. -- spoke at nationa nashua community college in new hampshire. >> it is my honor to welcome all of you to this event.

it is exciting for me for many reasons. i am a buckeye, and we have the greatest band in the land at ohio state. this is not a new place for governor kasich. he has been here a number of times, so this is like old home week for us to have the governor back. we are pleased to happen here. i would also like to thank our chancellor who is renowned economist nationally, and as well in the audience is our chair, paul holloway. i would like to welcome you all here, and i will turn it over to the governor. [applause] mr. kasich: i have decided to run for president because the time to fix america is now. not tomorrow, but right now.

the time to make tough decisions and get results even if they are not popular. sometimes you got to make decisions even if people don't like it, because if we continue to hesitate, america will pay a high price. we have seen too much economic stagnation, bickering in washington, paralysis in the white house, as the world becomes more dangerous. and nothing is happening right now to turn things around. and this is about your country, this is about your future. we seem sometimes to be hanging in space. we are not going forward, backward, we are waiting for the next bad thing to happen. in my lifetime, i cannot remember a time when our nation waits for bad things to happen to us. we need to take control of our

future, and we got to do it right now. that is why i am laying out a strategy today that will help us produce the results we need. folks, all the politics, all the focus groups, polls, tv ratings need to go out the window. and we need to come together -- [applause] mr. kasich: we need to come together to do what is in the best interest of our country -- lead. sometimes it's lonely. lead. no popularity polls, just get the job done. and it starts with the single most important thing that we can do, which is to grow american prosperity in the 21st century. creating the climate for job growth is one of our greatest moral purposes. when we have jobs, we can take care of our families.

we can participate in the life of our communities. and most important, we can reach our god-given potential to live a life that we were made to live. a strong economy also makes possible the military. that is what keeps us safe and secure. it is the fundamental purpose of the federal government, and it allows us to be able to take care of each other when times are particularly tough. let me be clear, the government does not create jobs. americans do. we do it by our creativity. [applause] mr. kasich: by our risk-taking and by our hard work. therefor, the first thing that washington must do is get out of the way, because when government steps back, we can step forward and after all, isn't this country about all of us?

not the big shots in washington, it is about us, in our communities, families. government, i have believed, should be the last resort, never the first. when government is the first resort, it oversteps its bounds. with taxes that are too high, spending we cannot afford, and red tape that kills jobs. we shouldn't let washington do things that we can do better for ourselves right back here at home. those folks way far away cannot run our lives, we have to run our lives. america is a large and dynamic place. getting it growing again is not about checking off a few boxes with these focus group policy proposals that are disconnected from reality, we have seen them,

nor just about being a good administrator. it is about having a vision and an underlying conservative philosophy for getting america to work. then you need to bring people together and then you must have the strength to get results. talk is cheap. standing on a corner and yelling and screaming is like a clanging bell. if you cannot accomplish anything. in my life i have done things throughout my career. i led the effort to balance the federal budget for the first time in a generation. it wasn't easy. you step on a lot of toes when you shake things from top to bottom. many people opposed it, a lot of fighting. but we did it. it produced results. but washington took its eye off the ball. when i left with my friends, who

stood in the breach and balanced the budget, when we left, washington took its eye off the ball, and our country suffered. in ohio, my beloved ohio, we are getting results. with my leadership, we turned and $8 billion budget shortfall into a $2 billion surplus. we cut taxes by $5 billion. the most of any sitting governor in america today. we helped ohioans create more than 300,000 jobs. 300,000 people. [applause] mr. kasich: these are not just numbers. they are people's lives and people's families. strong leaders keep the people they serve at the center of all

they do, because leadership is not about self, it is not about me, it is about service. every american, everywhere across our country is in my mind's eye today, especially the people i grew up with in mckee's rocks, where if the wind blew the wrong way, they found themselves out of work. they played by the rules, they took care of their families and their communities. they are in my mind's eye. today i lay out my vision for lifting our nation by reclaiming our power, by reclaiming our money, and by reclaiming our influence from washington. the first thing that we must do to get government out of our way is to start with a budget. as president, i will immediately put us on a path to a balanced budget and i will get it done within eight years.

[applause] mr. kasich: i went to a meeting the other day where they said we can do it by 2030. too long, too much debt. within the first hundred days we will have that plan to balance the budget in eight years, and to keep it balanced, i will start the process to amend our constitution to require washington to balance its budget every single year like states and like families in america. we need a constitutional amendment to force them to balance their budget and do its job. and i hope you will support me in that. [applause] mr. kasich: a balanced budget helps create jobs because it makes more room in the economy for businesses to thrive and to create jobs. right over here, you can see the

federal debt clock. $18 trillion-plus. it's pretty amazing, isn't it? that is what we have run up, and that is what you have to pay. to the students here today, think about what this means for you. it means $57,000 in debt that each one of you -- $57,000 in debt that each one of you have to carry. and that includes my two 15-year-old twin daughters. putting down their back. we have to stop it. think what you could do with this money to help yourself without having to pay that debt if we could begin to erase it. i served in congress and by the the committee that

wrote the government's budget. i was the chief architect of the first balanced budget. when we balanced it, it unleashed job creation and began paying down the debt. in ohio, i have written three balanced budgets and the last one just 3 1/2 months ago. this is something that i know how to do and something that i have done throughout my career. [applause] mr. kasich: how do you do it? it starts by setting your priorities. that's pretty difficult. but then having the courage to make choices that could be unpopular. in our case, we need to reform entitlements to make them provide better services and control their skyrocketing, unsustainable growth rates. and let me be clear -- you can have no balanced budget without dealing with the problem of entitlements.

to change those entitlements in such a way that we can make them sustainable, but yet delivering services are people need. i have done that before. and we will do it again. there is also plenty of waste in washington's day-to-day operations that can be cut. shocking, isn't it? for instance, do we really need two different agencies inspect inspecting catfish? the food and drug administration inspects our seafood so why do we need the department of agriculture to spend $14 million a year inspecting catfish? it sounds like a lot of money here but in washington they leave that on the floor when they turn out the lights. but we will claim abou -- clean it up. the u.s. epa has spent over $15

million on p.r. consultants. they already have a staff telling us how great they are doing. i don't think government should be spending that much of our money trying to convince us to like it. just do your job and cut out the waste. these are two examples of how we can easily save or where we need to spend more money on our military while also streamlining the pentagon bureaucracy so that men and women in harm's way get the maximum benefit from every new defense dollar. i spent 18 years of my career in washington fighting the bureaucracy and the red tape and duplication and delay in the department of defense. we need to rebuild our defense, but we need to streamline and

rebuild the bureaucracy inside that building and as president i will look across that river every single day to make sure that the money that we spend is going to help our men and women in the military and not bureaucracy. [applause] mr. kasich: america's taxes are also too high. we will cut them so americans have more money in their pockets and more control over their own lives and better job opportunities. look, you know better how to spend the money you have in your pocket than sending it to somebody in washington so they can figure out what's best for you. in ohio, we cut taxes by $5 billion while turning that $8 billion projected shortfall into a surplus. as president, i will cut taxes and we will not only cut taxes but we will balance our budget in eight years.

both of them, because the balancing of a budget needs economic growth and you manage your spending. both lead us to a balanced budget which ultimately can lead us to a place where we begin to pay down our national debt. president reagan set the top income tax rate at 28%, and it unleashed a decade of growth. we will also kill the death tax because no one should have to visit the undertaker and the tax collector on the same day. small businesses should be able to pass businesses on to their children without having to sell the business to pay the taxes, most of which they have already paid. [applause] mr. kasich: by the way, we killed the death tax in ohio. and small businesses appreciate it.

low income americans also need tax cuts just for them. we increased the earned income tax credit by 10%. we eliminate fraud in the system in order to save taxpayers money and reward low income workers at the same time. the philosophy is as we bring down the lower rate to provide incentives for more investment, we are risk-taking and more job growth, we want to provide the tax relief to people at the lower end so they have incentives to work harder and get ahead, not be punished because they put more time in. it is an accordion. help those at the bottom become more successful and bring the top down. for businesses, the top rate will be 25%. this brings us back to a level that is globally competitive. to help job creators get the machinery and equipment to grow

and be more productive, they will be able to conduct a full cost of investments the same year they buy them. folks, when businesses has the incentive to put the equipment in the operations so workers can be more productive, workers will get higher wages. and in our state, wages are growing faster than the national average. it helps these businesses to create more jobs and pay those higher wages. and by cutting tax rates and simplifying the tax code, we will also make it possible for businesses to bring back to the u.s. the money they have been storing overseas. companies are making profits. we believe they have an estimated $2 trillion in profits that are sitting in europe, that they are beginning to invest in europe instead of the united states of america. wouldn't you like to have that money come back here so they begin to invest in american jobs

and american factories and american equipment? that is exactly what we are going to do. we are going to cut those taxes. because they do want to invest here, but we have clobbered them and have made it difficult for them to bring that money home. you talk about a stimulus package? this could be the most successful stimulus package i've ever seen by letting the private sector do the things they want to do to invest here in the u.s. and to spark a wave of research and innovation, we must strengthen the research and development tax credit, especially for small businesses. so when you young people create a small business and invent the new google, we will give you incentives to do it make your life easier. america needs a fair and honest tax collection system.

i have words here on a page. we will change the irs. no more something that we live in fear of, that has bias, that has targeted people. no more. we will clean up the irs and that is one thing everybody in america will agree to. [applause] mr. kasich: so there are other parts of our government that are just as inefficient as the irs. the red tape and regulation that steadily flow from government a -- agencies are drowning job creators and often don't reflect the will of congress. we can fix this by returning comments sense to agency regulations. we start by giving america a one-year break from all new major regulations so we can catch our breath. no more rules and regulations from washington for one year so we can begin to get on top of this. we will rebuild our regulatory

system and rid it of the abuses and mistakes we have seen in recent years. bad regulations can do more harm than good, so we will require real cost-benefit analysis. the benefit ought to outweigh the cost. we give lip service to it, but we will change it and ask congress to make this mandatory. i will call on congress to do their job and request that any regulation that costs more than $100 million goes back to them for approval. no more regulators passing these laws that they were never elected to do. congress has a responsibility to control it, and we will make sure it happens and that job creators have a fair chance when they object to an agency's decision. we will create a court of common sense. it will be made up of real americans who i will appoint as the president who will review

agency decisions that do not reflect common sense. you will have somewhere to go and someone who will listen to you. and perhaps even someone who will fight for you. it must use the agencies on -own appeals process staffed by its own bureaucrats. we go to the agency and appeal to the people working in the agency tell us if we are right or wrong. that works out great, doesn't it? we need a better way. we need a method that is truly fair and independent. speaking of regulation, there has been no single area of america that has been more strangled by regulations than energy. why has washington worked so

hard to keep america from harnessing its energy advantage? we have to set people free to make us energy independent in north america and particularly here in america. [applause] mr. kasich: we need an all-of-the-above energy policy. make sure we produce more energy from oil and gas, from nuclear, from cold that we did clean and burn, alternatives and renewables and anything else we can find and we will do it responsibly. we need all and it should come from right here. we cannot continue to rely on energy from overseas. our goal will be to meet the nation's energy needs from north america, and to sustain it, with the right policies in place, we can work with our closest neighbors, canada and mexico to take care of our own needs without having to depend on four of countries were dangerous

parts of the world. that means approving the keystone xl pipeline. enough with the delay. we will approve the pipeline because energy freedom is a matter of national security. we don't want wars. when it is all about energy, when we can do what we need to do in america to be energy independent, and we are on the road to getting it done. and when i am president, we will accomplish it. just as we set ourselves free from energy overseas, we have got to be smarter and stronger about trading with countries overseas. we are inventors. we love to make things in america. we make the best products in the world and open markets can world, and open markets can create new jobs for us here at home. trade can also make the world more stable and advance our national interest. but i have to tell you, too often washington gives us

the false choice between free trade or no trade. we have to reject that and become better negotiators of the trade pacts we want to put in place. and i will tell you, we should only agree to deals that are fair to american workers, and that includes taking a firm stand against countries that cheat, those that manipulate currencies to get an advantage. you understand this in new hampshire. we understand this and ohio. we will call them on it and have an expedited process to stand up for the american worker. and that is critical when we talk about the issue of trade. [applause] mr. kasich: we cannot let these issues delay whenever we see violations of trade agreements because bureaucratic wheels grind so slowly.

we will bring them fast and make sure we do a better job of protecting america from getting ripped off. it is essential that we are open to trade for a variety of reasons. but it is also important reinforce those agreements effectively. the jobs we talk about will not be in washington. they will not be created by government. they will be created by americans in towns like nashua and manchester and in my hometown of westerville. that's where we live and where the power of our nation comes from. it's time to make washington respect that, and as president i will work to transfer influence and power out of washington and back to where we live, where we work, in the states and towns across this country. and it starts with education. washington isn't the nation's

school principal, and it sure isn't its teacher. it's time washington stop micromanaging education. education is a local issue to be decided by parents, our communities, and our local educators. yes, we need high standards. but the federal government shouldn't set them or control them. i will reduce the power of the department of education. i will consolidate more than 100 federal programs, 100 programs, red tape bureaucracy, bureaucrats, i will bundle them into four, and i will send the resources back to the states for us to run education ourselves. [applause] as president i look o traveling the country to share the best ideas for our states and for local school district that are improving education. the best ideas come from right

here and we need to do a better job of sharing those things that work. exciting things in the 21st century to give our young people the tools they need to succeed. we will take this approach across the federal government's power structure were ever we can. we must take these back to the state so they can respond in their unique ways. one-size-fits-all doesn't work. we can do it with infrastructure, not just with education but with infrastructure. the interstate program is unfinished. there is no need for a costly federal highway bureaucracy that take our money and gives it to somebody else. i will return federal gas taxes

to the state, leaving a sliver with the federal government for truly national needs and the interstate program is downsize the department of transportation and give it a smaller role supporting states with research and safety standards. federal spending will go down, resources for highways and transit can go up and states can work faster and more efficiently. keep your money and fix your roads the way you want to. no more taking gas tax money to washington. cut some off-the-wall -- keep it right here in new hampshire for what you need, and if you don't need it you can send it to ohio. it's critical we can give states the freedom to help americans keep their skills sharp and competitive. that's what this place is all about, training and education is a lifelong endeavor. you cannot stop after you graduate from high school, vocational school, community college or the university. it is lifelong. washington doesn't. let states pursue their own ideas the result is workers usually can't get training help unless they lose their jobs first.

much of the money only get sent to the states with the argument that you have to train people once they lose their job rather than training them while they have their job so they don't lose their job. that's the washington mentality for you. we will wrap up all those job-training programs and in them to each and every state to deal with their workers and economic situation and take it out of washington, d c and set ourselves free to make sure our people can be prosperous. i hope you agree. [applause] i will send medicaid back to the states as well. washington makes it so hard to try new ideas, it seems as though nothing ever gets done. in ohio, we are making progress in the private sector health insurance. better chronic disease management, and the practice of paying for value, not just volume. these ideas can also be put to

work helping restrain costs and the federal government program for seniors, medicare. it is fiscally strong and there to help them. while these ideas can help us begin improving health outcomes and get costs under control. we can do it if washington was just smarter about the need to try a nerve roach -- a new approach. let me be clear. we have a program to make sure medicare is set on a firm basis. and that medicaid can be sent back to the state, something we have been fighting for since the middle of the 90's. so that governors and legislators can't come up with more innovative and practical ways -- can't come up -- can come up with more innovative and practical ways.

the same is also true in welfare. cutting washington's strings of so states can help people move up and out of poverty. in ohio, we are proud to be innovative. guided by the same ideas my mom used to say, it is a sin not to help somebody that needs help but it is equally as sin to help somebody that needs to help themselves. we are asking the federal government for permission to allow our people on public assistance to be able to get education so they can get a job. we have to ask the federal government to approve this. it is nonsense, let me run it. let my legislature run it. let us tailor a welfare program in ohio you can use and learn here and that the command my state -- we can learn in in my

state. >> we will leave this life to take you live to the white house we need to make it happen and we need to make it happen now. our government out of the way, balance our budget, cut taxes. we need to take back our power and money and influence and get the red tape and regulators back under control. let us win our energy freedom. let us get smart on trade. it all works together as one strategy. if we want to see results now we are going to have to fight for it. 50-year-old for the woman who lost her job in this bad economy. newould grow and give her a

opportunity if they weren't drowning in high taxes and red tape. i'm fighting for the startups with breakthrough ideas that could hire the single moms, struggling to provide it future for her kids. i'm fighting for them that and women whose wages have been flat for seven years. i'm fighting for the young people with their whole lives ahead of them, wondering if they will have the same opportunities as the generation before them. the ideas i'm putting out today are for every american who wants a brighter and better future. is it easy, are you kidding me? it is extremely hard to get this done. and achievable to help our country. there are going to be a lot of people working against us. that is inevitable. there are going to be skeptics.

i become president, relying on you for your help and support. i have done it before. that works for me in rallying support from people like you. we have to make them happen now, no more willing around, no more no more confusion, no more inexperience, no more focus groups, now we need to get this done. he's going to balance the federal budget, we did it

before. he's going to cut taxes, he has done it before. we can solve all of our problems , he has done it before. he is going to control the regulators. in ohio we have with our common sense initiative. develophe wants to energy and makes it independent. it's working and it is exciting. he said he wants to change welfare. you asked them to resume personal responsibility. he said we need to stand up. americano protect the worker at the same time we reach

across the oceans and make sure our products can find markets. write anothero book because i'm in politics, i don't need another television show. the good lord has blessed me. throughout the course my lifetime a has given me the skills, given me the friends, given me the instincts and the to be able to make the nation strong and respected all over the world again. i need you right here in new hampshire and across this country. politics, no more

nonsense, we will get down to it. be a brighter, stronger, more helpful place as a result of what we can do over the course of the next eight years. thank you and god bless you. >> the governor has been kind and generous enough with his time to participate in our student forum. before we begin our like to introduce our chancellor to talk about the forum. dr.?

[inaudible] as you talk about america's futures, our students, and national community college for 27,000 students are the future of our country. they have a huge stake in this election, and we want to take advantage of the 100th anniversary of new hampshire's first -- and to get directly to engage with the candidates. they are looking forward to this opportunity and we thank you for taking their questions. >> oliver question is from ryan.

ryan: how are you doing tonight? you know why god invented economists? to make astrologist's look accurate. : what sectors of government spending would you advocate lowering or possibly eliminating? we are on the nondefensive discretionary, we are going to freeze that for eight years. that is just a starting point. we dig in and get under the hood. we will increase defense spending and we will be able to reduce a lot of the backlog we need because defense is our primary purpose. withe are going to deal

these entitlements. medicaid will continue to reform. -- wed to be able to make need to be sure we are able to stabilize medicare. we have a lot of detail on how we can do that. you cut taxes and control spending you can actually get to a balanced budget. you becauseunt on there will be a lot of people whining about, you can't touch me. we are used to that. we just need to make sure we have the discipline to get it done. all about.t this is it is about raising america to a level where people have -- where people really have the opportunity. -- where real people opportunity. >> with social security being raised to 67, younger people have found themselves less likely to have a job. people between the ages of 20

and 24 have an unemployment rate of 9.1%. this near 4% higher than the national average. address theu national security's old people can have safe retirements and young people can have job stability? gov. kasich: a lot of 18-year-olds think they have a better chance of seeing a ufo than a social security check. 1999i proposed a solution, a fix to social security that was stabilized for 100 years. the baby boomers would have started in a slightly lower rate and our young people would have been able to get 2% private accounts, where you could be connected to the economy just like federal workers. that was about 16 years ago. now we are in a deeper hole and we are looking at all the possible solutions of social

security. there are about four things we need to think about. we need to deal with the issue of early retirement, we need to look at the issue of raising retirement age, we do need to have indices of prices. those things will get us in a pretty good place. we have to think about it disconnect between what we pay in and get out. social security is so sensitive it has to be stabilized. going to have to include some democrats who understand this program needs to be asked. say aboutve more to that, which is a separate issue than getting us from balancing this budget today. thank you. >> our second student is a communications major. amanda?

amanda: good morning. my question also involve social security. newsding to various sources, such as washington times, the new york times, and washington examiner, social security will run out by 2016. i understand you said people have to get over social security granite. what about the state citizens who have paid into social security their entire lives? how will you assert -- how will you assure them they will be taken care of? gov. kasich: in the area of social security disability, it shows. disabled, thats they have to be in the position where they can get help, we have

to make sure people are not just approaching a legal system to try to get them out and qualify for something that they really shouldn't be on. my mind isn't closed on that. it is something we have to carefully look at. here is what the story is on the benefits. if we start social security benefits with an indices that is , then you are going to get a social security slightly lower that will contribute to saving the program from what you want anyway. we were in a forum in new hampshire and we were all chuckling about where we start. most people don't know what they're benefited us, that you calculated down to the dollar. i said we are going to have to start a little bit lower. to have to doing

it and we all kind of chuckled. i said we are going to have to all get over it. that is part of what happens when you say things. that is part of why we don't get anywhere. we get distracted by a criticism. not going to be in a position where i'm going to be distracted. have taken heat from republican presidents, from republican party members, from democrats. if you are not prepared to take the heat, get out of the kitchen. get out of the kitchen, thank you. i want you to get a job. we need to anything do it is to emphasize the capability of these community college is to give you a skill for what you want to do in your lifetime. skill is the matter and those are the words not just for you but for my younger daughters, who will one day be in school

like you are today. thank you. amanda: thank you governor kasich. [applause] >> our third student is a liberal arts major who hails from nashua. [applause] nate: you served six years as -- as chairman balancing the ohio budget. would you consider modifying the code and getting rid of loopholes? to. kasich: we always want look at provisions in the code that were put there by special interest groups. i used to save we can reform welfare for pork people -- for poor people we ought to reform welfare for rich people.

sometimes those loopholes are legitimately loopholes and sometimes they are not such as the research credit. you have to scour everything. every single program . you have to remember every pope -- every program has something that supports it. in the yellowit pages, does government needed to do it? can we make it work better, more effectively? you just go through all of that. everything gets looked at appropriately. the time you come off the moral high ground is where it is pretty hard to lead. we will look at everything, including these kinds of things we used to call loopholes.

maybe you can come and be a junior partner and you can help us look at things. nate: would you support a basic universal income? gov. kasich: a lot of people would be paying other taxes, significant taxes. we want to make sure we give people an incentive. the earned income tax credit, which i fought for as a congressman. important towas give people an incentive to rise. we are raising the amount of money you can make, 300 percent of poverty without losing childcare. many rules and regulations that keep you from being able to rise because you lose more than you gain.

be sure we tailor our welfare system to encourage independence, not continued dependence. >> our next it is a major in international relations and comes from boston new hampshire. caroline: my question is where do you stand on president barack obama's proposed free two-year community college? can you inform us how or where the money will come from? gov. kasich: we have to pay for things. you would like to have a new car, wouldn't you? i can't just give you one for free. we have to learn to control the costs of higher education.

that comes number one to leadership. aggravatemes have to the faculty, the people who work around here to take costs out. pit -- we had a group of group of business people who came in with a series of recommendations to reduce costs. heard of ohio state? a little school in the midwest. what is your name? so ohio state's president, who is a great man, debated the decision that he wanted to lease parking garages and parking lot because he said why is a university running a parking garage? he was fought tooth and nail. ohio state at least those parking lots and parking garages, still maintains

control, and is receiving half $1 billion that can be used to help students with scholarships or reduce costs. they have now outsourced their dining. why is university running a dining facility? it ought to be done by the private sector. we need to scour everything to reduce costs. these costs keep rising, students are just going to go to online education at a fraction of the cost and it is going to become more creative. let me suggest one other thing, when you enter the school you better have somebody who guys you virtually every week. what do you want to be, what do you want to do, what courses are you taking, are you on track, and i'm here to be your help her. we need to know what the in demand jobs are so we are not getting an education for basket weaving when there are no basket

weaving jobs anymore. other universities or community colleges should be paid one dime for overhead. they should. burst by government when a student completes a course or graduates. anything short of that will result in high costs without putting u.s. the top of the heap for what our priorities are. caroline: should able-bodied mentally capable adults who received welfare be required to work? how would you monitor this if so? gov. kasich: we worked in congress to say a few get food stamps and you are able to body, you need to do community service at least 20 hours per week and i think the same is true for welfare. fostering a culture of dependency helps no one.

it doesn't help the children who were in the family. think this is easy. , you wake up in the morning, you don't have a stable family. you hear gunshots and you wonder about going to school. and you don't have anybody giving you the love and encouragement you need. all of these people are made in the image of the lord. they are not to be discarded, not to be demeaned. they need to be lifted. just bydon't lift them giving, you have to expect something back. no more strings, you do it, you tell me what is working here. i will tell you what is working in other parts of the country.

it is equally a sin to continue to help people who need to learn how to help themselves. problems,difficult and our schools at the local level the -- local level must be made excellent. thank you. >> our last speaker is a criminal justice major from nashua, new hampshire. and i good morning everyone, governor. what ideas do you have to reduce the overall debt in student loans that make it more affordable for everyone? gov. kasich: you need to stop the cost driver. you going onto a four year school?

you have already cut your costs. you are here where it is less expensive than in the four years. ofhave outlined a number things we need to do to get on top of this whole cost issue. in high school you ought to be able to get college credit. some students have completed almost an entire year of college when they were still in high school. when they teach, the students can get college credit. it is a whole member of things. when you are a college president , what you think your goal is for tomorrow? sometimes it is really hard to go against the grain, because when you go against the grain everybody gets uptight.

do you know what leaders to? made this way? because i had a mom who shook things up top to bottom. she was my model in how you stuck and hung tough. when you believe in something, whatever it is, if you are right and need to check with your friends, even if you don't have a big crowd you keep pursuing it. you will have the crowd and be the leader. leaders always stand out from the crowd. you get too far ahead of the crowd and they can't hear or see you. there is a certain skill about knowing how far to get and how to bring the crowd along with do it alle we can't yourself. surround yourself with people who, like you, support you and

reinforces you. good luck to you. you have another question, i thought i was done. >> what is the acceptable number of immigrants to let in each ear? what is your plan to help these people without putting a strain on social services? >> we have immigration law who limits who comes in. now of course we don't have any way to protect ourselves from people who walk out in the country. i was talking to a man who asked i'm not in favor of a wall. do you live? where i said i live in washington dc. do you lock your doors at night? i said i do. should a country locket stores?

we have to finish that wall. we need to make sure we can control our borders for a variety of reasons, but then we ought to have guesswork for programs so people can come in and out legally. and if they haven't violated the law, they can get a path to legalization. at ourthink we can look entire immigration program. today, my be here mother couldn't speak english parents my father's came over. we weren't even sure what our real name was because my grandfather may have taken the name of the family that he came on no dish came over on the boat herecreative if i had got i probably would be running for president of croatia. welcoment to immigrants, it makes us stronger and better, but we want to control it. and we don't want people to come here just to get on some benefit. here andeople to come

assimilate themselves and work and contribute. which i believe most of them to -- most of them do. thank you. >> i would like to thank their professor for her hard work in working with the students throughout this course. thank you very much. [applause] governor, we really appreciate you taking the time to meet and speak with many of our students. i know your commitment to education and being a buckeye, we thank you for wearing the right colors today. thank you and please join us for a reception honoring -- following this immediately. gov. kasich: thank you very much. [applause] ♪

>> we need to upgrade the value of guidance counselors.

thank you very much, god bless. thank you. >> it was nice of you to come today. family does put out education programs about how to control costs. i would love to get your feedback.

>> thank you, governor. i enjoyed being here. >> how are you? .ood to see you

>> he's been telling me how to do my job for 25 years. >> give me one second.

>> what do you think of the campaign governor? be. kasich: it is good to also talk now and increase the will about our programs. i think people want to hear specifics, and that is good. i also think this is good for the country, for the debate. we don't have been budget, cut with it, creative everything doesn't have to be about me. some of these things are good because they are inherently good. this will become the focus of what people have to talk about. this is the real deal. we will see. >> the idea that -- which is

responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] -- [inaudible] gov. kasich: we have a bit of government. tax cuts, wehe have not been able to pass most of the increases. i want to go from a consumption-based to an investment-based economy. we have been able to achieve the bulk of these because we produce government. we could go lower in ohio if we fortitute consumption taxes investment and lowered income taxes. it is always fair to have a bit of dynamic growth. we know we are going to get a boost if we do all these things. we are reducing growth to spending in this plan.

you grow the economy and reduce your overhead. you don't do it with a check off the box strategy. i haven't seen any budget plan. it takes combination of things to get your economy going. it is taxes,ory, it is controlling spending, it is a whole variety of things you need to do. just one thing after another is not the way i do things. this is a dynamic plan that can be achieved. are seeing a lot of voices across the country that are saying if anybody knows how to pass these things it is k-6, and i happen to be biased and agree with him.

thought he was not drawing them down. that is because the conditions on the ground has deteriorated. done theave never second increase. i would have used special forces to be able to go to be lethal and mobile to take care of the job. i wouldn't have supported the additional troops. now that the situation has deterred underground, it is a wise situation to say we are not just going to go out of their and lose all the things we had invested over the years. i don't know much about what he is saying, but to me it is probably a reaction to the 60 minutes interview where people said he looked weak. thank you. >> we know our partnership saved -- we know it works.

do you plan to look into it any closer? >> we will look into it at some point. a supporter of affective foreign aid. there is a chunk of foreign aid that doesn't get to the people who really needed. we will see, but i'm open. thank you. >> c-span takes you on the road to the white house, unfettered access to the candidates, townhall meetings, rallies, and the speeches. we are taking your comments on twitter by facebook and phone. every campaign we cover is available on our website at c-span.org. >> today president obama announced plans to keep 5500

troops in afghanistan through 2017. he said the move is necessary because afghan forces are not yet ready to secure their country. at 8 p.m. the president's announcement from this morning. here is a preview. president obama: today i want to update the american people on our efforts. since taking the lead for security earlier this year, afghan forces have continued to step up. this has been the first fighting season where afghans have largely been on their own area they are fighting for their country and -- for the country tenaciously. when the taliban and has made , afghan forces backed by coalition support have been able to push them back. this year thousands of troops

and police have lost their lives, as well as many civilians. at the same time, afghan forces are still not as strong as they need to be. they are developing critical capabilities. intelligence, logistics, aviation, command and control. taliban has made gains in rural areas and can still launch attacks in cities including kabul. we understood that as we transitioned, the taliban would try to exploit some of our movements out of particular areas and that it would take time for afghan security forces to strengthen. pressure from pakistan has resulted in more al qaeda coming into afghanistan and we have seen the emergence of an isil presence. the security situation is still very fragile. in some places there is risk of

deterioration. fortunately, in the president and chief executive, there is a national unity government that supports a strong partnership with the united states. during the visit earlier this year, resident gani and i continued our counterterrorism operation and he has asked for can to need support -- continued support. following consultations with my entire national security team, as well as our partners and members of congress, the president and chief executive, i am therefore announcing the following steps which i am convinced offer the best possibility for a lasting progress. first, i have decided to maintain our current posture of 9800 troops in afghanistan through most of next year, 2016. their mission will not change. our troops will continue to

pursue those narrow tasks that i outlined. training afghan forces and going after al qaeda. maintaining our current posture through most of next year, rather than a more rapid drawdown, will allow us to sustain our efforts to train and assist afghan forces as they grow stronger. not only during this fighting season, but into the next. second, i have decided that instead of going down to a normal embassy presents in kabul by the end of 2016, we will maintain 5500 troops, a small number of bases including at bagra, and conduct are -- kandahar in the south. our troops will focus on training afghans and counterterrorism operations. these cases will give us the presence and reach our forces require to achieve their mission.

in this sense, afghanistan is a key piece of the network of counterterrorism partnerships that we need from south asia to africa to deal broadly with terror threats weekly and attacks -- quickly and attacks against our own. we will work with allies and partners to align the steps i am announcing with their own presence in afghanistan after 2016. in afghanistan we are part of a 42 nation coalition and our allies and partners can continue to play an indispensable role in helping afghanistan strengthen security forces. including respect for human rights. because governance and development remained a foundation for stability and progress in afghanistan, we will support the president and

national unity government as they pursue critical reforms. new provincial governors have been appointed and the president is working to combat corruption, strengthen institutions, and uphold rule of law. as i told the president and chief executive yesterday, efforts to deliver progress and justice for the afghan people will continue to have strong support. we cannot separate the importance of governance with the issues of security. the more effective these reforms happen, the better off the security situation will be. we also discussed american support of an afghan led reconciliation process. it should be clear to the taliban and all who oppose afghanistan's progress, the only real way to achieve the amount of u.s. and foreign troops from afghanistan is through a lasting political soap -- settlement with the afghan government. securities for the taliban and other terrorists must end.

you can watch all of his remarks tonight on c-span at 8 p.m. eastern. and then defense secretary ashton carter, who answered questions from reporters today at the pentagon about keeping u.s. troops in afghanistan longer than originally planned. in a c-span has your road to white house 2016. this year we are taking our road to white house coverage into classrooms across the country with a student camera contests, giving students the opportunity to discuss what important issues they want to hear the most. follow c-span student camera on tv, on radio, and online on c-span.org.

>> on tomorrow morning's washington journal, form indiana governor mitch daniels. he is now the president of perdue university. in a conversation on wall street regulation and how the issue is playing out in the race for the democratic presidential nomination. .ur guest is dennis kelleher it then a look at the rule of national security issues in the presidential campaign. washington journal, live on c-span every morning at 7 a.m. eastern. assed away earlier this week, a friend of this network. donna edwards, good morning. guest: good morning. host: lots to talk about, including who will be the next speaker of the house. but let's talk about what will be an important decision next week, the highway transportation

bill. some calling for a five or six year plan. what can we expect? guest: well, there is a mockup that is expected in our house transportation and infrastructure committee. the problem is that there is no funding attached to it. so we are not really clear whether or when the ways and means committee is going to deal with the funding issue. but we do have the bill and front of us next thursday. i haven't seen it yet. i don't think any democrat to seen it yet. so we will have probably a vigorous markup. host: the deadline is october 29. if you don't meet that deadline, what happens next? guest: unfortunately, i think we will be in the situation where there will be another proposal for another extension. i think there are a growing number of members who are tired of all the extensions. states can't operate like that. our transportation and infrastructure has tremendous needs, and they can't be funded

doing it a couple months at a time. i think we have to force our hands now and commit to a long-term transportation infrastructure measure that makes sure that we deal not just with our highways, roads, and bridges, but also with mass transit and all of our infrastructure needs. it is time. and it is time for all of us members to put up for america's infrastructure and for job creation. host: this is the headline from the "wall street journal," lawmakers under pressure to pay for the highway programs. how can you deal with a bill that doesn't have money attached to it? guest: one, we are not addressing committee, but we've got to get money attached to it. transportation actually pays for itself. there have been a number of estimates that say when you make an investment in transportation infrastructure, over a very short period of time, it really pays for itself. people working and putting that

money back into the economy and having infrastructure that really functions in the 21st century. there have been any number of proposals over the last couple of years about how to pay for it. i'm in favor of a portion of the transactions tax to pay for that. i think week and do it at a very, very minimal cost and still meet our infrastructure needs. we have a couple of trillion dollars in unmet infrastructure needs, and i suppose we could wait for it all to fall apart, people to lose their lives, the costs that we are incurring and the maintenance on our vehicles because we are not investing in our infrastructure, but we need to get to the 21st century. host: when you buy a gallon of gas, how much goes to the federal government for roads and bridges? guest: of her small amount. $.30 i believe on the dollar. but here is the deal. even if we were to tie that to

inflation, it would still than keep is up with some level of peace, but our cars are getting more efficient. so we are not going to be able for all ofa gas tax our funding of our transportation and infrastructure needs. it will have to be some combination of ideas. my colleague has long proposed in infrastructure bank to meet those really needs -- really big needs we have. we need to invest more in maintaining our roads and bridges. maryland has a number of deficient bridges, as there are around the state. we saw the danger, even in the maryland area. on the way out to andrews air force base, or lots of dignitaries travel, a brick. into a woman's car during rush hour. -- a brick falls down into a woman's car during rush hour. host: i must go back to what you will be dealing with in the house. guest: well, i think, one,

obviously, we have no -- [indiscernible] even in the senate version, it is a six-year authorization. but i think only three years of pay force. hoping that we will have more investment in transit to meet the needs of major metropolitan areas around the country. but also invested in our roads and our rural areas. i think we can do all of those things and make sure that, again, we have to be committed to the 21st century. host: our guest is representative donna edwards, democrat of maryland. our phone lines are open. (202) 748-8001-- for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. good morning. caller: yes, hi, good morning.

i wanted to ask the congresswoman why should doesn't have any high-profile african-americans endorsing her? host: we will get a response. guest: actually, that is not true. in fact, a majority of the county council where you live, caller, have endorsed my campaign. i've have very excited about the campaign we are running. it is a truly grassroots effort. the latest polls show i am five point ahead in the state. we are reaching out to other counties, but also spending a lot of time in baltimore. in fact, i do another part of my college to work this evening. host: the headline from the the sixton post," debate, the next one scheduled for next month. guest: it has been a tepid

response from my opponent, but i understand our teams are sitting down this week to try and work out those details. i think the sooner, the better. we can already see from the democratic presidential debate the other night that was great substantive and spirit to is isat what is that is what -- that is what the voters deserve. host: why do want to serve in the senate? guest: i have enjoyed my term of service. and i think i have been able to accomplish some things in a very short time that others hadn't. and i think i would make a representative in the senate -- i would make an excellent representative in the senate. as a woman, a mom, and an african-american in the united states, it is that can of the diversity that is sorely missing in the united -- that kind of diversity in the united states

senate that is sorely missing. have a multitude of experiences that really lends themselves to the 21st century, lend themselves to how we grow jobs in our economy and our state, and how we met and provide that safety net for those who are doing as well. host: let me pick up on that point because they chair of the committee you serve on had raise the question about the commitment of this administration when it comes to the mars program and other nasa endeavors. i want you to react to what he had to say. [video clip] however, this, proposal contains no budget, it contains no schedule, no deadlines. it is just some really pretty photographs and some nice words. that is not going to do it. that is not going to get us to mars paid this sounds good -- to mars. this sounds good, but it is a

journey to nowhere until he have that the budget and we have the schedule. and i hope the administration will change it posture and decide in the future that it is ryan thankpport a you them on schedule -- orion and keep it on schedule. talk about that, and also your thoughts about the space crew graham -- program to mars. and the discovery that there is water on mars. guest: it is quite an amazing discovery and it tells us that we need a solid roadmap to mars with -- in that respect, we need a partnership with the administration. but i don't think that chairman smith was being, you know, completely candid about what the problem is. the problem has been a congress that has been quite recalcitrant

and making sure that nasa has the kind of authorization that it needs. we are working us having not -- working off of not having an authorization at all right now. we had a budget proposal that came out of the house of representatives at a sitting waiting for action. -- and is sitting waiting for action. i do think the administration has an obligation to lay out marker so that we understand what the measuring points are comes we understand whether we are meeting success. we are going to have to make sure we have the money to do it. it is unfair to expect nasa to meet an expectation of getting us to mars without the resources to do it. in that respect, i think the congress, and in particular this republican congress, has been quite a failure. host: we are talking with donna edwards. maryland's fourth congressional district.

now in her fifth term, she is also running for the u.s. senate. us, elkhart,ing indiana. the republican line. caller: good morning. my question to the representative would be why not defund planned parenthood and use that money for infrastructure? you know the democrats, they are always talking about different things. why don't they vote to take this money away from planned parenthood and use it for road construction and bridges and all the things we need? host: thank you, larry. guest: well, larry, i just think that is a reasonable solution. we need to make should that we fully fund women's health care and the delivery of those services. and we need to rebuild our transportation infrastructure. it is not a question of either/or. i am fully committed to making sure that women's health care services are provided and would propose -- oppose any effort

that were defined women's health care. and at the same time, i understand that i need to meet the responsibility that our infrastructure meets its 21st century goals. right now, we are failing on that count. it is time to act. no more short-term extensions. and let's make sure we can identify the kind of funding that we can -- that is going to be robust. that other nation is doing and not the united states. it will have an impact on our economic liability over these next several decades if we don't do whatever parents' generation did. host: let's go to jim and oxford, maine. good morning. caller: good morning. host: good morning, jim. caller: i just have a question. i just can't believe -- should generate between fuel taxes and tolls almost enough money to fund the whole thing. i used to have road tractors

that ran all over. my biggest costs were tolls and fuel. we went through hundreds of gallons a week to get in and out of long island. it was $100 just for bridge tolls. if they get rid of the -- [indiscernible] it is beyond my belief that there isn't enough money. they could do more easy past and get rid of all the people collecting tolls. it would save millions. host: thank you, jim. guest: well, thank you very much, jim. the problem really is not that we are paying a prevailing wage to workers who are rebuilding our infrastructure. in fact, we want them to make wages so they can put that back into the economy. the problem is we have underfunded and under invested in our nation's infrastructure and maintenance for a couple of decades now. and frankly, it can't all be

defunded just by, as i described before, the fuel tax. what has happened over the last couple decades is that our vehicles have become more efficient. and so we are not gathering as much as with the gas tax. on the one hand, that is a good thing for our environment. and on the other hand, it means that we have to multitask and find multiple different ways in which we find our nation's infrastructure. there's not a single dollar that is invested in infrastructure that is wasted money because it creates jobs and money -- growth. host: congressman paul ryan is a key player. he is also being talked about as a candidate for speaker, something that he says he does not want. but on the issue of taxes and paying for the highway bill, what is his role? orhe serving as a mediator

is the one that says we are not going to raise taxes? guest: well, as the chairman of the ways and means committee, he needs to serve as a leader in terms of identifying the sources of funding to fund our nation's infrastructure. our job on our committee should be to come up with an authorization that is a six-year long-term authorization so that states know what they can count on. maryland does even know what it can count on next year from our investment in infrastructure so i can plan the big projects, the long-term projects -- so it can plan the big projects, the long-term projects. our job next week should be to authorize a six-year authorization that is multiyear so that states know what to expect, and then mr. ryan's job is to hone in the republicans on the ways and means committee and except some of these ideas about ccept some of- a

these ideas about how to fund the bill. we continue to get "d" grades for our infrastructure, and it is not until something falls begin to knowthen that we have to continue to invest in our infrastructure. let's not wait until too late to do this. host: and quickly, the price tag of the highway bill? over five or six years. guest: look, the price tag should be a couple hundred billion dollars a year. we have to trillion dollars in trillion in unmet infrastructure needs. i'm not saying we have to do that all at one time. the senate bill covers three years, but three years is not enough to invest in our infrastructure. host: back to calls, silver

spring, maryland, the democrats line. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i have a question for the congresswoman concerning her campaign. in 2008, you pledged not to take money from corporate tax. but since the 2008 cycle, you have taken almost half a million. why don't you go back on your comment? guest: thank you very much for the question. that was in the, you know, course of the campaign. and i did. frankly, most of my money does not come from corporate taxpayer it comes from organized labor from working people, from women, from environmental organizations, and from individuals who live in my state and across the country. host: get your reaction to some news this morning, the president today expected to announce his policy in afghanistan, keeping as many as 5500 troops in afghanistan through the end of his term in january of 2017.

what are your thoughts? guest: i have just heard this proposal. i'm looking forward to seeing the president's remarks about this. i do think we have a security situation in afghanistan, especially in the context of the broader region that is quite difficult. i think what the president is wrestling with now is not wanting it to become iraq. there is an argument that you leave, you know, enough service members there in order to do the counterinsurgency work, but we also have to make sure that they are protected. so i want to hear the president has remarks and i spun nation -- before a's remarks counter a conclusion. i think it has been unfortunate that the president hasn't been able to maintain his commitment -- and this happens, i guess.

you started out at the beginning saying all troops will be withdrawn before the end of his presidency. it looks like that is not the case. and we will have to see what he proposes for those 5500 troops. host: our guest also serves as the cochair of the democratic policy committee. the republican line. caller: good morning. i have got a couple of things. first, obama about three or four months ago went to afghanistan and gave $122 billion to reconstruct their country. they built doctors clinics, they built schools that we never tore up, we never tore anything up. this money should be coming to the united states instead of these foreign countries. we don't own these people anything. -- owe these people anything.

he keeps giving them money. and this -- [indiscernible] you want to spend billions of dollars going to mars and millions and millions of miles away, and you'll never do anything with it if you ever do get there. i don't even believe they have ever been to the moon. and they need to keep our money here and quit paying these illegal aliens all this money and these muslims that is coming here and they are paying them now to come in here and putting them on welfare out of our money. this needs to be stopped and start taking care of the american people. host: thank you, john. guest: well, you know, john, like some americans, pretty much doesn't believe that we should be investing in anything. i like investing in the state hospira graham -- state program

because it is about investing in the future. our investment in science have benefited the american economy, and i think that should continue. i think we are in exploring nation, -- we are an exploring nation, after all. nasa's budget accounts for less than 2% of our federal budget. so we have work to do in this country to set our priorities and make sure we are really -- make sure we are meeting the needs of the american people, that we continue to grow the middle class, that we continue to raise the wage base so people feel like their children are going to do better than they did. and i think it is important for somebody like me with a perspective of somebody who worked for a living to be and politics, to reinforce the need to create jobs and grow the middle class, and you that any responsible way. which is why i think the importance of investing in our

nation's infrastructure where you if you invest $1 billion in infrastructure, you create something like 35,000 jobs up and down the infrastructure -- income stream. host: let's go back to the gas tax. it is 8.4 cents per gallon. it is time to raise the gas tax by a dime. do you think there would be support among his republican colleagues in the house to do that? guest: i think when i spoke earlier, i was adding what we do at a state level to that. i have supported the idea of raising the gas tax, but also adding an inflationary tied to it. i think one of the biggest mistakes we have made is having it not keep up with inflation. but i also believe that if you look at both the gas tax and the

way that all of that highway trust fund goes into highway infrastructure, we also need to make sure that we have other parts of our infrastructure needs. mass transit, for example. that we can meet those needs, too, which is why i believe it is going to be several pieces of funding formula that is going to result in us meeting our transportation and infrastructure needs. and the gas tax, frankly, is only a part of that. host: we are talking about the highway trust bill that will take place next week in the house. also, the nasa program and troops staying in afghanistan. our guest is john edwards. pj is joining us from douglasville, georgia. the democrats line. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: we sure can. go ahead. caller: ok. the first one is -- a statement actually.

[indiscernible] -- $.26 a gallon on our gasoline tax for infrastructure here in georgia. reuse the samest place to get the to match whatever they spread -- spent. i want to know why you literally -- i don't hear any republicans really discussing it seriously -- that there is global warming and i want to know why we are doing space travel instead of trying to save our earth before it is too late? because to me, that is the first priority for my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren. host: thank you, pj. guest: let's remember, steve, that the highway trust fund is for use on federal projects. so it is really different from what states do. sometimes states creates their own structure to deal with state and local roads and to meet

those needs. and we have to meet all of them. and so we can't confuse apples and oranges when it comes to the highway trust fund. as to our investments in science and technology, and particularly the and, one of the components i am very supportive of is the investigations into earth science because it is what helps us understand what is happening with the earth so that we can deal with issues like sea level rises. i just read a report that our largest estuary in the nation, the chesapeake bay, is warming at a more rapid rate than we have known. and so that leads to a question about whether the chesapeake bay is going to continue to be the kind of economic engine that it has been for five states and for our region. because we haven't dealt effectively with global warming. i think it is a serious issue. when the pope was here, he talked about it, too.

it is particularly important for poor communities when they are not investing in making sure we deal with climate change. and the work that we do through nasa and the investigations that we do help us understand what is happening here. host: your former governor has supported you and your reelection bid. he is now running for president. has you endorse -- have you endorsed him? guest: no, i haven't. i asked a don't recall my former governor supported me, but that is another story. i think they all did really well. i am very proud of the fields that we have on the democratic side. believe in diversity of the united states senate, and i believe in diversity in the present as well. host: so he did not support you? guest: well, i don't think i ever saw endorsement. and that is why i say that. i have mostly gone out there and

asked the voters for endorsement. out there and seek them necessarily. host: how is the campaign going? guest: the campaign is going really well. i am five point ahead in the latest polls that were done. an internal poll that were released publicly. we feel really good we are, organizing all around the state. really heavily investing in making sure that we reach out and touch voters across the board. been meeting with veterans and seniors and women. as i said, college tours as well. getting out to all the colleges and universities around the state. i mostly have known my state because we are quite regional and we are quite a different state. hiking,ostly noted by biking, fishing, and camping. host: and has brother michael ski given you any advice --

barbara mikulski given you any advice? guest: of, she has. it is really she and her service, the way that she never forgot she was a social worker. just as i never forget that i came out of the nonprofit sector working in communities. and i think that has grounded her in her service to maryland and thinking about what maryland needs in addition to her service for the nation. she has given that can of advice to really get out there and know the state and know the different personalities. and i'm trying to do that. host: andrew is next, the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. hi, donna. it is nice to talk to you again. guest: hi. caller: i want to point out to you that you guys done in washington dc you have a blind spot. and the blind spot is this: you

are swimming in money already. you just don't spend it very well. you are terribly inefficient. and you could -- i think it would be great to do all kinds of work on the infrastructure, that you already said you are heavily moneyed by the unions. and they don't -- they're whole thing is line our pockets first, and then we will do the job later. so it is not going to go very well for you, donna, ok? unless you start to reform. you guys are so blind to the situation that the country is going to elect donald trump, for crying out loud. and you guys don't get it because you have a big blind spot. you are swimming in money. i know because i grew up in washington dc. the place is millionaire city. it is crazy how much money you guys have, and all you say is we need more money, we need more money. you need to start spending it more -- you know -- you need to start spending it better. do you understand what i'm saying, donna? guest: i really appreciate the

comment. i have to tell you, i am not a millionaire. whenever they look at finances, i probably at the very bottom when it comes to the congress. i came to congress having lived and worked in my community in maryland. i grew up in a military family. we have lived in -- we lived in every region of the country. it led me to believe that most people want the same things. they want to go to a good job, be paid the same wage, and they want their children to do better than they did. i think that is what of quintessential american. it is what my family wanted, and i believe that is the kind of dream that i have lived. unfortunately, that kind of middle-class dream is really slipping away for too many americans. .oo many of marylanders some people have just gone away with boatloads of money. i think that is the frustration you hear from some callers.

and we have to restore that american dream for people by making sure they can go to a decent job that pays them a decent wage. host: we will go to gym next -- jim next. caller: good morning. think of taking my call. guest: good morning. caller: last week, oregon legalized recreational marijuana. and made over $11 million. if every state had done that, couldn't we fix our bridges and our roads? i mean, that is my question for you. thanks. guest: well, i think there are a lot of states out there that are really experimenting with both medical and recreational marijuana, and how to regulate that. i do think that even maryland is going down that line. i think what is going to happen is that we have to have a more national system. you can't have all of the state having a bunch of different laws

when it comes to marijuana. and i have supported that kind of legislation in the house of representatives. host: from maryland, michael is next. the independent line. good morning, mike. caller: hello? host: yes, you're on the air. caller: good morning. my question is -- several years back, we had an economic stimulus package that was supposed to create all these shovel ready jobs. and all these shovel ready projects bidding get done, or most of them didn't get done. and the money was spent elsewhere. recently, governor martin o'malley and his democratic legislature had to pass a rain tax here in the state of maryland. and the reason why they passed this rain tax is because they misspent the money from the highway trust fund and had to

replenish it so they could even do the bare minimum. so my question is this: there is always taxes that people want to levy, but the money is generally misspent. thingsep coming up with that the american people need, and then the money is appropriated, but nobody follows through to make sure it is spent for the appropriate purposes. host: michael, thanks for the call. iuest: one of the things -- don't know if michael realizes this -- but i actually supported spending more of that stimulus package in infrastructure. i don't think we put enough in infrastructure when we passed the stimulus package. host: -- spending elsewhere? guest: we did have a pretty huge stimulus package. i was arguing at the time that a greater proportion of that

should of been toward infrastructure. our water resources needs and water and so infrastructure met in the different way through the water resources development act. we just passed a bipartisan -- and out on the committee along with senator ben carson. goeshat is actually what to meet federal responsibilities when it comes to our water infrastructure. but just like i described that we have a deficit when it comes to spending on our highway infrastructure, a deficit in terms of unmet needs, we also have a similar deficit when it comes to unmet needs for our water and sewer infrastructure. it is why we are seeing so many more water mains break, water mains that are over 100 years old in some cases and some of our older cities. and some of our suburban areas as well. again, if we don't meet those needs in terms of taking care of

our water infrastructure, all of that goes into our groundwater, which that goes into the bay, into the chesapeake bay, and then we have a further problem in the chesapeake bay. these things are all connected, and i think what was not fully explained,explained when the tan maryland was levied was that it was supposed to meet those kinds of unmet water infrastructure needs. we still have a deficit in terms andur net needs in maryland across the country. i was reading an article just a few weeks ago about the unmet needs just in the city of baltimore alone. if we were to actually pay out would be bills, that at extraordinary cost and so obviously you want to stretch that over a. of time.ver a period just like a couple years ago, the washington mall --

metropolitan region, a water main breaks and the entire beltway shuts down. that cuts down all commercial ,raffic from maine to florida all the goods that are being delivered, that is shut off to. there is a consequence when we do not meet our infrastructure needs. better to meet that now and meet them for the next couple of decades that it is to wait until they all fall away -- apart. michigan, outside of detroit. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. representative edwards, you mentioned earlier that for every dollar that is spent, only 30% goes to roads. a couple of questions. i have lived in detroit all my life so i have had some experience. go?e does the other $.70 in 1963 when the great society came out the idea of the liberal democrats was to help people. it seems that since 1963 things

have gotten worse and we have spent billions and billions -- one of the unmarked -- previous collars said $.26 per gallon goes to estate taxes, then you put the government tax. $.18. you got $.44. if i've got four dollars in gas -- if i get $20 in gas i does give you a dollars and $.80. let me just correct something for the record. when i was speaking about that number it actually was combining our state tax and our federal tax in terms of meeting needs. fund, everytrust single dime of the highway trust fund money goes into funding infrastructure that are federal project. sometimes state proposed.

differences are different to pending on where you are. maryland has a different tax than virginia does. sometimes there are special project that need to be funded and a state will impose a tax for the purpose of funding those infrastructure projects. the state money goes to meet infrastructure needs for state roads,nd for county because it goes down to the counties in some instances, like in maryland. and theral money highway trust fund, all of it goes to meet our highway infrastructure needs, which is why it is important to invest it. most people will save you, if all of it is going to the highway trust fund, then i am happy to have that, because otherwise i'm spending all my maintenance on my car because i'm getting potholes, because the roads are not being maintained. there is a real cost and there is tremendous research that has been done into investment in

infrastructure that really does show that from an economic perspective our investment in infrastructure actually pay this back. they fully meet the needs. when we invest in infrastructure we are investing in the economy and we are meeting our needs at cost. i think it is a good investment for us, it is what our parents generation did. they created the interstate highway system. theuse we are not making advancements we need, we're letting it all fell apart. host: is amtrak part of this, or is that separate? guest: there are some needs that can be met with amtrak but we thathave an authorization covers our railways as well. there are mass transit needs, for example, on metro systems where we actually have to add resources to make sure that we are covering transit as well.

we want to cover our roads, our bridges, our transit and make sure that we need those needs. host: >> part of this use steamboat freedom conference with ceos discussing federal taxes and regulations. later, peter wallace and on because of the 2008 -- on the cause of the 2008 financial crisis. when president obama announced today, we asked for your reaction on our facebook page. jake wrote --