value of a dollar and the importance of hard work. john attended molar high school and he played lak for future notre dame head coach john foust at molar. he learned that you can achieve any goal in life if you're willing to work hard. and to make the necessary sacrifices. as hard as it is for la salle like myself to praise a molar crusader, it's clear to me that john learned that lesson well and his life and career are a testament to that message. after graduating from high school in 1968, john enlisted in the navy. while america as we heavily involved in vietnam. he was later honorably discharged due to a bad back, an injury he suffered as a teenager working at the family bar. after holding several entry level jobs, john then set his sights on college degree, with the encouragement of william smith, a profess art xavier university, and high school football referee who was mentoring him about refereeing local sports, john decided to

attend xavier. throughout his time at xavier university, john juggled numerous jobs, although his primary job was as aoner to. his hard work paid off and he graduated from stavier in 1977, becoming the first person in his family to graduate from college. but his work as a janitor had another more important reward, he met his wife of 42 years, debby, who worked in the accounting department at the same company. they would marry in 1973, the same year my wife and i were married, and raise two daughters, lindsey and trisha, and now a grandson, alster. my wife and i also have two children, a daughter and a season, -- son, and one grandson, so far. after gragg from xavier, john was hired as a salesman for a small packaging and plastics company. through hard work and determination he steadily worked his walk up the company ladder, ultimately serving as president of the company. he resigned from that position when he was elected to congress in 1990. in that job john learned what it takes to survive at a small

business and he learned all too well how difficult it is for small businesses to deal with the regulatory and tax burdens imposed by the government. and he brought that understanding to washington, where he has fought for smaller, less intrusive government. john got his start in politics by getting involved in his local homeowners association. that experience led him to run or township trustee. to distinguish it from other townships in ohio, including one in my district, are we served from 1981 to 1984. in 1984 he was elected hot ohio house of representatives where republicans were hevenly outnumbered by democrats at the time. in 1990 he won a four-person republican primary for ohio's eighth congressional district. although his victory was somewhat surprising in local political circles at the time, looking back now, it's more surprising that he wasn't the favorite. upon his election to congress, john became a member of the so-called gang of seven.

a group of republicans who regularly battled with congressional leadership. sounds like something around here in modern times. the gang of seven played a pivotal role in exposing the house bank and post office scandals. early on in his congressional career, john also worked closely with newt gingrich and helped to draft a contract with america. a set of principles to which republican candidates from all over the country agreed, including myself. and it was those principles that propelled the republican wave in 1994. and led to the first republican majority in the house of representatives in 40 years. throughout his time in congress, john has advocated commonsense reforms in the house and in the broader government. in addition to fighting to close the house bank as part of the contract with america, he also pushed for the requirement that congress live by the same rules it imposes on the rest of the american people. later to help promote transparency in the appropriations process, john enacted the first ban on earmarks in the house. although he'll be remembered

for many things, these reforms may have the most enduring impact on the credibility and integrity of this institution. the house of representatives. the people's house. however, knowing john like i know him, i would guess that his fondest memory will be pope francis' visit to washington and his address to congress right here in this very room. it was truly a historic and monumental event, as pope francis became the first sitting pontiff to address a joint session of congress. ever. millions of americans, myself included, were moved by the pope's message about a spiritual path to a better future. particularly his call on all of us to strengthen our families, protect the sanctity of life and help the less fortunate among us. it was an amazing moment for this house and this country and it wouldn't have been possible without speaker john boehner. i know it has been one of his top goals since he was in the republican leadership back in the 1990's, and i think it's a fitting finale to a very

distinguished career. john tely i hope that boehner is remembered like he would say, a regular guy. who rose from umhm -- humble beginnings to become the leader of the people's house. as a leader who never stopped believing that the american people can overcome any obstacle, and as a crusade who are fought for a smaller, less intrusive and more accountable government. of course i will always remember him as a friend. thank you, john. for your service >> historian raymond smock on on the role of the speaker of the house. >> the constitution requires the house of representatives to choose a speaker. what is the speaker's job? mr. smock: speaker has a big job and it's evolved over 200 years. it started out as a constitutional office because the constitution says the house

shall choose its speaker, they even spelled it 18th century style. choose its speaker and other officers. there were no other duties mentioned and it was assumed, since the founders knew all about speakers from colonial legislatures and from the british parliament going back to the 13th century, what a speaker was. a speaker was a presiding officer. but in our congress, the speaker was not only a presiding officer, he quickly became a powerful person because he appointed committees and that evolved into, as party systems evolved -- first congresses didn't have organized parties. as a two-party system developed, the speaker became the leader of the majority party and took on political ramifications. the constitution is very silent

on this, on the powers, the powers of the speaker are what the speaker can make of them. and that's the unique part of it. some speakers have exercised great power where they've even rivaled the presidency in terms of setting the national agenda. most of those in recent times but also 100 years ago, two powerful republican speakers, thomas brackett reed and joe cannon from illinois. reed was from massachusetts. they were powerful figures who set the agenda of the country. the first speaker of pennsylvania, in the first congress, he simply was a presiding officer. he was paid $2 more than the other members, $6 a day. he got $8 a day. for that $8, he said i spent most of it on oyster suppers for the members.

so he didn't feel like it was much of a bonus. he thought he was losing money on the deal. but even muhlenberg quickly, as he got power to appoint committees, found he was elevated above the other members. >> the door to the house chamber is behind you. the speaker is second in line to succeed the president after the vice president. what does this say about the speaker's authority? mr. smock: the speaker has great authority in the constitution in that respect. that was changed in 1947 with the secession act which brought the speaker up into a higher position as the highest elected officer after the president and vice president. and then it goes to the president to pro tempore of the senate after that. the speaker is after the vice president. if something happens to the president, the speaker is in line to succeed.

and that was -- that 1947 act was an effort to look at having someone in line that was an elected official. in the old days, it was the secretary of state. so, but since 1947, it's been the speaker. host: how has the job evolved since the time of the founders? mr. smock: as i mentioned before, it has evolved into something where the speaker today, modern speakers, their role is to be the chief administrative officers of the house even though they have other officers that are elected but the speaker is where the buck stops in terms of administration of the house. the speaker is also the head of his party and if that party is opposite that of the president of the united states, it means that he is the highest ranking officer of the opposite party. and therefore, the spokesman for

the other party vis-a-vis the president. the speakers are also -- have at various times have great power to bring legislation to the floor. that's handled by other committees but with the speaker's say so. so they control the agenda. the majority party controls the agenda and the speaker is the person that has the final authority. >> what qualities make the best -- for a successful speaker? mr. smock: those who understand that to work with presidents of their own party and opposite parties. those who understand the relationship with the chairman of the committees of the house and that's a tough job to balance all those forces.

speakers don't always have complete control of their own caucus. there's divisions within the system. the house runs by the numbers for the most part. if you have the majority, you can push the legislation of the majority party. and control virtually everything that goes on in the house. that's one of the differences between the house and the senate. the senate, no matter which party is in charge, each senator -- there's only 100 of them, has considerable more individual power. but the house runs by numbers so if you're the speaker, you can push the agenda. but that comes at a price if you do it against the best interests of most of your members of your caucus. or sometimes where your party's in opposition to a national agenda that is different from your own. , the best access to

congress with live coverage of the house and senate. here are viewer comments via tweet. jonathan allen tweeted "excellent vote grabbing make c-span look more like espn." watchingeeted "i am #john boehner on #c-span. does this surprise anyone that knows me?" australia. very inspiring speech. politics in our country is very broken in combat lately. we could use a ryan." " how good a member of the minority party run for house speaker?" " #c-span on looking out for the colorado representatives. what morning would it be without a critical houseboat?" " mighty of the speaker vote. i am watching c-span on a plane. this really is the future." the best access to congress is on c-span, c-span radio, and

www.c-span.org. and go behind the scenes of capital by following our capitol hill producer. >> next, a discussion with nancy pelosi of the george washington school of media and public affairs. she discussed a two-year budget deal, the 2016 presidential campaign, climate change, and the impact of social media on politics. she talked about the importance of women in politics and offered advice to students interested in public service. this is about an hour and 10 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, would you please welcome stephen mapp, the 16th president of the george washington university. [applause] mr. mapp: it's great to welcome

you to george washington university for a conversation with house minority leader with nancy pelosi on power, politics, and leadership. we are delighted to welcome leader pelosi back to the campus. she's been here a number of times much. she has represented what is now california's 12th congressional district since 1987. her distinguished career reached a high point when she was elected in 2007 as the first and so far the only woman in history to serve as the speaker of the house. we are glad she's hear to engage our students and university community on the critically important subjects of leadership, women in politics, and the role of the media in our democracy. today's event is part of the conversation series now in its eighth year that is of the one signature events hosted every year by our school of media and public affairs. the school is currently celebrating its silver anniversary, marking 25 years of training the next generation of media and public affairs professionals. the school has more than 3,700

alumni and there are many more anniversary events planned for students highlighting issues important to the future of media and politics. now it is my pleasure to introduce the director of media and public affairs school and today's moderator. in addition to being our director, he is the emmy award winning journalist who joined george washington after 21 years at cnn where he served as white house correspondent, anchor, and washington bureau chief. he's interviewed five united states presidents, thousands of political, business, and civic leaders, and here at the school of media and public affairs he leads a faculty of nearly two dozen world class professionals who engage in scholarship and teaching on journalism, political communication, strategic communications, and digital media. ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming to the stage frank sesno. [applause]

mr. sesno: thank you for that warm introduction and leadership of george washington university. good morning, everybody. great. welcome to the school of media and public affairs. to our silver anniversary event, a conversation with nancy pelosi. and our timing was pretty good because leadership on the house arranged a budget deal just so we could have them here today. our goal here at snpa is to train future journalists and political communicators with our b.a. and masters programs. as you know our conversation series is an effort to bring the real world in. and to engage people at an intellectual and practical level so we can see what you're studying and what we are researching how that actually plays on the national and global stage. i hope this conversation, i know this conversation will be illuminating and even inspiring to our students and others who join us today. another way that we help our students through the 25 years that we have been doing what we

are doing, this is new, is something we called "snpa can," the career access network. we have launched this to mark our silver anniversary as the president mentioned. we are celebrating these 25 years. we have 3,700 alumni now who drive innovation in media, journalism, politics, and advocacy. what snpa can is doing is help students afford to do unpaid or underpaid internships so they get that critical first rung on the ladder of career success. we are building this over the course of this next year and for those of you who are aware of it, help us do it. for those of you who don't, learn more about it because we are building something that's important. we are very pleased to have with us here today a couple of special guests who i'd like to shout out from our snpa national council, our impeccable chair, char beals. also one of our national council members, heather.

thanks to you as well. our national council helps guide us, advise us, and helps support us philanthropically so event like this can take place. that is so important for all of us. now i'd also like to thank one other special friend who is here and that is ed scott. ed, please say hi to everybody. [applause] ed supported us a few years ago, inspired, and supported a project called face the facts u.s.a. for the 2012 election cycle where we had a group of undergraduate and graduate students put out a fact a day, 100 facts leading up to the election. and it was a great success. ed, thanks again and thanks for being with us. now i'd like to introduce our guest, democratic leader of the house of representatives, 114th congress, from 2007 to 2011 first woman speaker of the house. first elected to congress in 1987. now representing the california's 12th district, which many of you may know at least largely as san francisco. a proud italian american.

in fact, we hatched the idea as one person clapping in the room, that's the only italian american we have here? i don't think so. we hatched the idea for today's event last february when she was on campus for a screening of pbs' documentary on italian americans called "italian americans." in 2013, she was inducted into the national women's hall of fame. she still has the distinction of being the highest ranking woman politician in american history. ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming nancy pelosi. [applause] i should say as well we are joined i think by some college democrats, is that right?

[applause] college republicans may be here, too. i hope we'll hear from them. there is a mic here. we'll have questions later. thank you for coming in. for taking time out of your busy day, arranging budgets and ex-im banks and things like that. ms. pelosi: so happened at 11:37 last night we finished the budget and took it to the rules committee. mr. sesno: i thought maybe we could start differently. could we start with a game? ms. pelosi: whatever you wish. mr. sesno: let's play word association game. i have 10 names or topics. i'll give you name or topic, you get a one-word response. ok? ms. pelosi: and then do i get the same chance at you? mr. sesno: absolutely. you can ask me grout great george washington university is. ready. budget deal. ms. pelosi: hooray. mr. sesno: debt ceiling? ms. pelosi: hooray. mr. sesno: john boehner? ms. pelosi: terrific.

mr. sesno: freedom caucus? isn't free. mr. sesno: donald trump. ms. pelosi: performer. mr. sesno: ben carson. ms. pelosi: dangerous. mr. sesno: wow. climate change. ms. pelosi: absolute. mr. sesno: russia. ms. pelosi: careful. mr. sesno: you were careful with that. taxes. not texas. taxes. ms. pelosi: investments. mr. sesno: paul ryan. ms. pelosi: hopeful. mr. sesno: ok. let's start with that. is he hopeful or are you hopeful?

ms. pelosi: we are all hopeful. first, now that we have played your game. mr. sesno: wasn't that fun? ms. pelosi: i don't think some people will think so. nonetheless, it was fun. usually it's joe biden. every time somebody says let me ask you one thing. joe biden. sincere. wonderful. really it is an honor for me to be here at george washington and in the presence of your very respected throughout the world, certainly in our country, president, president mapp, thank you for your kind words. [applause] ms. pelosi: thank you. this school and you, i have known frank a very long time because i was involved in human rights in china around the time of tiananmen square. and for a long time after that when frank was at cnn. i just watched where this happened here at the george washington center for media and

public -- what's the exact title? public affairs. this is fabulous. congratulations on your silver anniversary. mr. sesno: thank you. we'll talk about just over 25 years. especially in media later on. let's talk about this budget deal for just a minute because i think this is a very big deal. it's a two-year deal. takes us to 2017. it gives paul ryan, who presumably is going to be the new speaker, some running room. white house says, members of congress from both parties should support it. will democrats support it? you going to support it? ms. pelosi: yes. i'm presenting the facts of it. i think that it will -- by removing the uncertainty of lifting the debt ceiling, honoring full faith and credit of the united states of america, by honoring the principle that we have had all along which is whatever investments we make for the future it has to be equal between defense and domestic. in the bill we also present an

increase in medicare part d payments for seniors. this is of importance to your families, if not some of the young people here. as well as addressing the disabilities issue. extending the solvency of the disability insurance part of social security for a long time. and preventing a 20% cut in that. in terms of disability and medicare, we have corrected something that was going to happen and now it won't. in terms of a debt ceiling, very important. and in terms of the balance in the budget that we are not going to -- this has been a debate that we have had for a long time. that every time we want to lift the caps that are constraining our investment, people say let's just spend it on defense. but our national security and our strength is measured in the education and well-being of our people. the innovation that springs from the classroom that puts us qualitatively ahead.

and our research to keep america number one. and that means also in the defense our country. and defense of country, we take an oath to protect and defend. that's our oath of office. it's our first responsibility. but again the defense of it is not just military might, however important that is. but it's also the strength of our society. mr. sesno: this isn't exactly the grand bargain that boehner was looking for some years ago. but as i think it was a publication i read today it is a big deal. does this change the politics and the dynamic on the hill because it takes some of these issues and resolves them for two years and there is going to be a bipartisan vote, or so it would seem, to get this thing passed? ms. pelosi: this is a budget. next we have to do the actual bill, the appropriations bill. more on the subject than you may want to know but this is the blueprint for how we go to the next step which must be accomplished by december 11. mr. sesno: you think it changes the dynamic going to that next step?

ms. pelosi: yes. it establishes the framework, the 50-50, firewall that you can't take from domestic to spend more on defense. so it has pay-fors. the speaker, speaker boehner wanted to have the pay-fors first before we understood what we could invest in. so we did the pay-fors. that created the top line of what the investments will be. and that is the framework that is handed to the appropriations committee to write the appropriations bill and pass it by december 11. mr. sesno: what does it mean -- ms. pelosi: this makes us hopeful about how that will proceed. mr. sesno: i'm curious as to what you think this means. we hear people talking about gridlock in congress. about how nasty things have gotten. the freedom caucus, there are plenty of people who criticized this process already. actually including paul ryan himself. he said he's not going to do business in secret and it's got to be open.

does this change the dynamic? or is it just a gift from and to john boehner? ms. pelosi: well, in terms -- you have to understand where we are. within the past few weeks our speaker said he was going to step aside because there were elements in his own caucus which said unless you shut down government because the continuing resolution contained funding for planned parenthood, unless you shut down government, we are taking the gavel. he didn't let them do that. he walked away himself. this is historic. this is a very big deal. you cannot let 10% of the congress, 40 members or something, but they have -- enough to create the two-way team the speaker needs to be elected to say unless you shut down government you're no longer speaker. this is stunning. it's harmful to the institution.

because he did the right thing by keeping government opened he knew that meant that he had to -- they would vacate the chair over and over again. we had it back of course because of the institution you don't want a speaker being overturned by 40 people. mr. sesno: you had his back? ms. pelosi: had the institution's back. this isn't good for the institution. so we'll see how they proceed from here. but we have to be hopeful. you always have to be hopeful and optimistic. and to paul ryan's credit, he knows the issues and he knows the rules. that makes it easier to negotiate. mr. sesno: as i mentioned, freedom caucus has criticized this budget deal, action today was calling boehner a rogue agent in doing this whole thing and there's some discussion this could actually hurt ryan coming in. do you see this deal hurting ryan in any way? ms. pelosi: no, i don't.

but i'm sure there will be those who will say that. just the language, "rogue agent," tells you something about the lack of civility that is going on in their caucus. we all come beautiful president for whom your university is named, the patriarch of our country. how great he was. when he left office he was suspicious of political parties. one of the things he cautioned against as he left office was to be aware of political parties that were that were at war with their own government. i think we have come as close to that as ever with certain elements of the republican party. all of us come to try to find common ground, to stand our ground when we can. that's what we do. you try to find common ground. but to come and think that you have every idea that you have is the only good idea, well, maybe monarchy or something like that

might be better for you, but not respect anybody's opinion and be condescending of even those within your own party to the tune of using language like what was it -- mr. sesno: rogue agent. ms. pelosi: you said it. mr. sesno: i didn't say it. i just quoted it. you have what you just talked about, the dynamic in john boehner leaving. and all the tumult over the next house speaker that followed. we have donald trump and ben carson on the campaign trail galloping away with the party. bernie sanders who is definitely an uncandidate in many ways, democratic socialists with serious numbers on the democratic side. you have been in politics for -- what the heck is happening here? is america mad? confused? alienated? are you guys just getting it terribly mucked up? ms. pelosi: i think elections are always about the future. so whatever it is that somebody might be unhappy about, they

want to see what is there is -- there for the future. there is absolutely no question that as we look to the future we have to see a path to take this to ending a lot of the inequality in our system. mr. sesno: is that what this is about? anger over inequality? ms. pelosi: i think it's anger over the fact that paychecks have not increased for decades. the purchasing power of middle class paychecks has not increased. the aspirations, hopes people have for their children, their education, their families, the pension security of parents so they are freer to invest in their children, the security of retirement security of seniors so that parents can look to their kids rather than having to take care of seniors. it is all connected. let me just say this. in 2008 america's middle class was deeply scarred by what happened then. what happened because of the

greed. i don't paint all on wall street with this brush, but what happened there severely, severely hurt the economic stability of america's working families. their homes in some cases were under water. their pensions were in doubt. they are were living off their savings. their jobs were uncertainty. -- were uncertain. the ability to send their children to school was in doubt. and it was terrible. and it was wall street hurting main street. that's just the way it is. i will go more into that if you wish. but just to fast forward to now, all of these good things happened when president obama took office to correct that. so much happened. when president obama stood on the steps and took that oath of office, so many things were worse than they are now. the deficit was $1.4 trillion. it's now like almost $1 trillion.

that's a $1 trillion reduction in it. a 70% reduction in the deficit. unemployment was around 10%. it's now around 5%. stock market was flirting with six, seven, now it's flirting with 17. 10,000 points more. the auto industry was on its heels with the investments that the democratic congress and president made. and opposed by many on the other side, if i may be allowed a partisan moment. now the auto industry is blossoming because of that and other engines. enthusiasm and entrepreneurship in the private sector. this is almost the 70th straight month of private sector job creation. some of it springing from public initiatives, incentives. some of it just the private sector which is a strong engine in our economy. and the list goes on. 17 million more americans having access to quality, affordable health care. and, one more thing.

what hasn't happened is the middle income paycheck has not increased. and the consumer lack of confidence still prevails. we are consumer economy. we have to have consumer confidence for people to spend, to inject demand into the economy, to create jobs. the lack of that has, in my view, contributed to some of the, shall we say -- unrest. mr. sesno: the list is legit. those numbers speak for themselves. if things are so great, you're saying people feel so lousy simply because paychecks haven't changed? ms. pelosi: yeah. mr. sesno: but there is another historic tradition this country has that george washington knew about, too, which is distrust of government. ms. pelosi: that's a healthy thing. mr. sesno: ok. but a lot of the distrust of government that we hear around the country and on the campaign trail also reflects distrust of big government and regulation and interference.

and so it's not all and only about paychecks. some of the anger that's directed at washington is directed at what people view fairly or unfairly, but certainly view as interference. isn't that right? ms. pelosi: if i just may, you sound like the ideological talking points of the heritage foundation. mr. sesno: no, no. i was in colorado once and i introduced myself. where are you from? washington, washington d.c. they look me like they were going to drag me -- don't blame me. i just live there. ms. pelosi: the fact is that is what are we talking about when we talk about regulation? clean air? clean water? what are we talking about? mr. sesno: businesses having to do more paperwork. ms. pelosi: you know what? a lot of that is state. in other words, we should subject everything we do, whether it's an investment in terms of dollars, whether it's a tax initiative. whether it's a regulation -- subject it to the harshest scrutiny. have common sense prevail. this whole thing of

anti-government. the debate about the amount of government is as old as our country. older. and that's a legitimate debate. that's where people come down on the spectrum. more or less government. how much national, how much state, how much local. i think you read this new book on madison where he -- it's very interesting how he thought that the central government was really important to keeping our country together. so there is a role for all of it. and there is also a role for having suspicion. is it working? are we getting our money's worth? is it doing what it needs to do for us? you can capture that and say it's all about government regulation and that's why the people are out there for trump and for bernie, but it really, most of the time, relates to how it affects them. as tip o'neill said, all politics is local. it's all personal. how does this affect me?

my family? my financial stability and the rest? and other people hijack that with something about regulations. if we have regulations we shouldn't have, get rid of them. that includes a lot of things that other people think almost every day when we are getting doing away with regulations that relate to the air you breathe, the water you drink, what's in the food that you eat, and i don't think that that's really what the uprising is out there about clean air, clean water, and food safety. mr. sesno: let's talk about the uprising. when we were playing word association game and said trump, you said performer. interesting thing to see in the polls now. ben carson has exceed the trump the last two polls. you called him dangerous. first, is trump fading? what do you think is happening? ms. pelosi: i don't know. i come to talk about the democrats. you know what? mr. sesno: i won't let you off that easy. ms. pelosi: i don't usually get involved in democratic presidential politics.

let it play out. let the public work. but as far as the republicans are concerned, let them figure it out for themselves and then when something happens we'll be prepared and i'll be happy to relinquish my title of highest ranking woman in politics in america. [applause] mr. sesno: are you making a prediction? ms. pelosi: i suspect that that will happen? [applause] mr. sesno: i see. ms. pelosi: don't you? mr. sesno: i think there's a good chance that we will see a woman candidate from the democratic party. how is that? let's talk about her for a minute. at the time when america seems to want a nonpolitician, right? the clintons have been around in national politics since the 1990's. what's new about hillary clinton? ms. pelosi: first of all do i

not buy into your stipulation that america want as nonpolitician for president of the united states. i think it's really important to say that americans are open to whoever comes forward who can be the best person to lead our country. there are sizable numbers of americans who know that you can have your fun in the nominating process, but at the end of the day somebody has to get the job done. and hillary clinton when she walks into the oval office, let's assume just for a moment, that she walks into the oval office, she will be one of the best prepared people to walk into that office in terms of her service, leadership in the senate of the united states, as secretary of state. being involved in the white house in the years that she was there. she's extraordinarily talented. she knows the issues. you always make a judgment. say this to the young people here who are future presidents of the

united states, what is your vision? what is your purpose? why would you want to be president? or speaker or anything else? what is your vision? what do you know about it? so if you decide you want to go into politics, what drives your engine? is it about climate change? is it about equality? what drives your engine? what do you know about it? so that people can trust your judgment. you're making speeches about what do you know and do they trust your judgment? do you have a plan to try to get some of this done? do you think strategically? do you have a vision? do you have judgment and knowledge? do you think strategically? and when you articulate that, you will attract support. and so many times we have excellent people who are of the intelligent. they have the vision, knowledge, judgment, strategically, and they don't make the emotional connection. i think she does all of the above. mr. sesno: you spend time with her. what's her vision?

ms. pelosi: you know what? you can invite her here and she'll talk to you about it. mr. sesno: you can help us with that. she has been here. ms. pelosi: myself, my purpose is that i have five children and nine grandchildren. but when i was raising my five children, it just -- i couldn't handle the idea that they had so much opportunity. so much attention -- i'm not even talking about economic, i'm talking about everything. and that one in five children in america goes to sleep hungry at night. lives in poverty in america. the greatest country ever on the face of the earth. when people say why do you do this? it's the one in five. it's the one in five because this is such a under utilization of humanity not to invest in our children. how do you explain that? then if you put that around the whole world, the whole world,

children around the world. so that's what -- i pray for them at night. the next morning i get up. i don the suit of armor, eat nails for breakfast, and get ready. one in five. sometimes when people say, why is this so important and that so important just looking at the particular issue or the particular race for congresswoman? it all comes back to the one in five. mr. sesno: leader pelosi, we are a school of media and public affairs. we are looking at our 25th anniversary. if we think about what's changed in media in 25 years, it's pretty breathtaking. just in the last 10 with iphones and social media and twitter and facebook and google and all that. ms. pelosi: talking about my district. [laughter] mr. sesno: good. this could get interesting.

from your perspective and from governance, from trying to get the job done, how have these changes in media, this greater role for citizens, this much more rapid transmittal of -- instantaneous, right? 11:37 you had a budget deal. at 11:37.10 the world knew about it. how has that changed? complicated? messed up? eased your job? ms. pelosi: i think it's -- you may not agree with what i have to say i think it harkens right back to our founders. in those days people knew what was going on. they really did. mr. sesno: even though it took a letter three months? ms. pelosi: they got it out there. and the democracy. imagine what they did. this group of people, this band of brothers, they decided they were going to declare their independence from the biggest

military force in the world. the biggest navy, the british. they would declare their independence and their declaration would be founded on that all people are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. this had never happened in the history of the world. word got out. mr. sesno: they didn't have twitter. ms. pelosi: the word got out because people were paying attention. and they put it out there. and then they wrote the founding documents. thank god they made them amendable so that they could be amended to having a more perfect union. this was remarkable. you think of common sense, thomas paine, you go up to lincoln's speeches. lincoln's speeches, his fabulous speeches. the word got out because people paid attention. they wanted to know. they were interested.

look at teddy roosevelt and all that he did. although he used muckrakers as a negative term, it was a positive term as it turns out. all that he did because people paid attention. and then after world war ii, all kinds of things, people weren't paying much attention. civics used to be a mandated subject and it became an elective. nobody even knew -- most people didn't take it. and it became just some people who were paying attention to all this. so it takes us back to the same alertness that the people had at the beginning of our country. they wanted to know what was happening because they knew it affected them. so i'm thrilled with the real time communication. sometimes it isn't, shall we say, vetted for truth or fact or something like that, but that's ok.

so then you have to deal with that. but you wouldn't throw it away because of that. mr. sesno: it's -- we talk about this a lot here. it's a much more democratic media now. citizens have access to one another. citizens have access to you in ways that they haven't had before. ms. pelosi: it's all positive i think. mr. sesno: you think that's a positive thing. ms. pelosi: even his holiness, pope francis, when he came, in his speech in congress he talked about transparent -- he didn't say transparency, he said openness. transparency and openness are so vital to a thriving democracy. now, there will be differences of opinion and there will be misrepresentations either because of lack of knowledge or because of intent to misrepresent. but the fact is our bosses, they have access to

the information. they follow the things that they are interested in. and i just find it to be so exhilarating, so wonderful. i think our founders would be very proud of the democratizing. in some way it leapfrogs over the traditional press. mr. sesno: totally leapfrogs over the traditional press. that's the point. maybe ben franklin would have been tweeting from the constitutional convention. that would have been interesting. ms. pelosi: i think you need the investigative reporting. you need the substance of -- that you provide because that's what's -- mr. sesno: that's the challenge in some of the displacement because we have lost some of that. the new models for getting that back to. ms. pelosi: that's why you're media and public affairs. mr. sesno: this is why we are doing what we are doing. exactly. let's go to some issues here. i'd like to talk to you about climate change. you mentioned the pope when he came to congress he called for action. he called for courageous and responsible efforts to take

action. the paris climate talks coming up next month. you led the way with cap and -- in trade which passed the house but failed in the senate. what's next? ms. pelosi: the next is paris. today i don't know that you saw the catholic bishops, cardinals, put out a call to action for paris to produce real decisions that have the force of law. not just nice things to say. it was a very, very strong statement. i connect that to you're mentioning, we passed a bill, when we passed our bill it was a wonderful thing. we had hoped the senate could do something, but 60 votes is a little difference of opinion on the science between the democrats and republicans on climate change. but here's the thing. we had at the table groups of people who really weren't used to sitting across the table, scientists and evangelicals, labor and the environmentalists,

and the business community. every different side of issues. and evangelical, some very conservative, but not all evangelicals were at the table, those who were, they had their own papers that were written up about this. that this planet is god's creation, and i agree with them, and we have a moral responsibility to be good stewards of god's creation. and in doing so we must be careful not to hurt the poor. that's exactly what the catholic bishops said today. the poor bear the biggest part of climate change affects them. there is environmental injustice. and they have done the least to contribute to the climate crisis. they are talking about worldwide. it's so urgent. if you travel the world, if you

go to the north pole and you see the melting of the polar cap and you see the acidification of the ocean and you see what's happening to the flora and fauna there, you go to china you see the encroachment of the gobi desert. you see the big coastline rising. you know they don't share any part of the polar cap. they affect it and it affects them. so whether it's the air people breathe. everybody is affected. this is so urgent. when we passed our bill in 2009, we had been told by secretary-general of the u.n. at that time, if you don't do this now, by 2012 some of this will be too late. mr. sesno: what do you hope comes out of paris? ms. pelosi: here's the change. i went my first one in rio in 1992. the earth summit there.

try to get my amendment into that. when i became speaker i established a select committee on climate and energy independence. we did fabulous things for two terms, including making the capitol an example to the world of green technologies. and it was all reversed when we lost the majority. not to go there. over a period of time, say 1992, that i was in copenhagen the last summit, but those meetings you talked about developed countries and developing countries. the developed countries should be doing this, this, this and this. and developing countries not shall could be expected from them because they are developing countries. that whole attitude is changed now for paris. every country should do what it can to save the planet.

mr. sesno: these are some of the things we have been hearing from china and india for example. ms. pelosi: china has come a long way. and they have really -- they have done remarkable things. you know, frank, as well as anyone, my opposition to china and tibet, hong kong democracy, autonomy, democracy. i fight with them all the time on that subject. but i work with them on the climate issue. and i had a speaker of climate visit to china. they have done remarkable things. but their development is such they are still a net emitter. they had to take more action. and now they have the president, i give president obama such credit for the patience and the attention that he gave this with the president of china, who was just here a couple weeks ago, i congratulated him on china's commitment not only for what they were doing but the contribution to the fund to help developing countries do theirs.

it is no longer i am developing you use so much -- each one of , your americans produce so much carbon 100 years ago, that's much more than our poor people do today. there's no use going there. we have a situation. we have to deal with it. we have to do much more by way of conservation, by the way, in our own country, and we have to help developing countries to reach their potential. one of the bishops was from new guinea, but representing both countries. but the rising sea levels are detrimental. and if you study this issue for a long time, first of all, in alaska, decades ago, the elders were saying, like 40 years ago, the elders were saying we see changes in the flora and the fauna of our area. and they would report it to the scientists and the scientists at the time said -- there was resistance. as you know there's always

resistance right now. said it was anecdotally interesting but not scientifically significant. then of course it just accelerated. mr. sesno: the one thing that pretty much everybody agrees on wherever they are on the side of the debate is if you were to have a carbon tax, that would actually substantially change behavior emissions and all the rest. that's apart from whether you approve of the carbon tax or not. is there any chance that a carbon tax would happen in this country? ms. pelosi: you have to put a price on carbon. what we did in our bill, we did the cap and trade. mr. sesno: could you go back to that now? ms. pelosi: i don't know we could go back. i think the carbon tax is more understandable to people. mr. sesno: is that down the line? ms. pelosi: you have to look -- mr. sesno: or not even a good idea. ms. pelosi: many of the multinational corporations in europe, because europe was way ahead of us on all of this in

the early part of the century. and they basically said the businesses, the multinational, they basically said just give us a figure and we'll work with it. just don't keep changing it. that would have been for the cap and trade. you have to somehow or other -- and the pope in the pope's encyclical on climate, god's creation, talks about respecting the needs of the poor in there. he's not a big fan of cap and trade. he thinks you have to go another root. -- route. you have to go the route that is sustainable policy wise as well as sustainable global, planet wise. there are different schools of thought on it but we are going to have to come under way to price carbon. mr. sesno: i want to turn to the audience now and invite some

folks. if you have a question for the leader, there is a mic in the middle. i'd ask you to not give a speech. make your questions succinct, while you're working your way up, tell us who you are. ready for questions? ms. pelosi: i am. if you wish, in order to facilitate, maybe put three questions up and then respond. otherwise we are not going to get -- mr. sesno: i'll jot that done as best i can. keep your questions straightforward and off we go. >> my name is reed from sacramento, california. so near you. and my question's about california politics specifically. there is going to be a lot of change upcoming in our congressional delegation. barbara boxer is stepping down and many suspect senator feinstein will do the same. so what do you see in store for the future of california politics on the state level and also our congressional delegation? mr. sesno: question one is future of california politics. i know you.

>> i'm nicki, a professor here at the school. great to have you here. i have a question. there's been a lot of discussion and marie slaughter has written on this how women can't have it all. but you have kind of had it all. you have five kids. eight grandkids. ms. pelosi: nine. >> nine grandkids. [laughter] and you are the -- you have been speaker of the house. so can you share some of your secrets with us? [laughter] mr. sesno: she asks as a new young parent i should say. there's a little self-interest here. go ahead. >> hi, i'm name's dante, i am actually from san francisco. i wanted to thank you for all your service. big fan of your daughter, alexandria's work. you spoke about in the beginning about the duty of america to provide funding for education and also for defense. and seeing as we spend more collectively on defense than the next nine countries combined,

and also that we have been lagging behind in test scores in high school graduation rates recently, do you think we found the right balance in the budget for that funding? if not, what would you suggest to improve it? thank you. mr. sesno: three good ones. future of california politics. let's start with that. ms. pelosi: first of all, do not assume that dianne feinstein is not running. [laughter] put that aside. last week we honored senator boxer in san francisco. it was the best ever event that anybody ever went to because she is so spectacular. and a hard act to follow. a great legislator. i had the privilege of serving with her in the house and then to enjoy and benefit our state benefit from her, indeed the whole country from her leadership in the senate. that's what elections are about. you never really know. look at this presidential. who would have thunk it? this collection. right? mr. sesno: that's huge.

ms. pelosi: it's always about -- let me just say this and applies to the other states as well. if we want more women, more minorities, more young people to take the risk of running -- this is a tough thing. we have to reduce the role of money in politics. we have to increase the level of civility. and we just have to do it. and when we do, many more people will come forward with their ideas. you run. you could win or not, but you want to win personally, that is to say you want your ideas -- you want to advance your beliefs and your ideas. you want that to work. you don't want to sign up to run where some outside group of dark money that nobody ever heard of comes in and describes you as something from i would say outer space, but that might not be so bad. compared to what they can continue to. so people say to me, i don't

know how you can take the criticism and the -- it's worth it. it's what goes with the public service. and so i hope that many of you will continue -- we have many new members in our california delegation as it is. mr. sesno: do you see a rising continue to run. we have many new members in our california delegation as it is. mr. sesno: do you see a rising name? a rising star? ms. pelosi: do you think i would tell you that? i will say this, we have the head of our future forum, which is a group of young members, all older than in their 30's, going around to the campuses and that's headed by eric swalwell from california. we are very proud of him. the whole delegation brings a lot to the table. as my constituents may say, having some seniority brings a lot to the district. mr. sesno: nicki asked about can women have it all? i might throw into that question, by the way, paul ryan's thoughts that he's a dad, he's got a family, he's not

going to work on weekends. he's going to spend it with his kids and his wife. good luck. i hope he succeeds with that. ms. pelosi: i do, too. that's important. i would hope that some of us who have our beautiful values about our families would translate that to public policy that enables other people to be able to have time with their families. for example somebody in their family is sick, be it a child, spouse, or parent. so we hope that this will be an omen of change from voting against sick leave to enabling families to have sick leave. and this takes us to your question. if we want to unleash the power of women and family oriented people in the political arena, any place, though, in the workplace, in the academic world, in the military, corporate america, any place, small businesses and the rest, if that's someone's interest, that's an important interest, what you have to do is you have to, for women, you have to value their work. equal pay for equal work. mr. sesno: do you have any secrets to share with nicki?

how did you it? -- how you did it. ms. pelosi: howdy it, i had absolutely no intention of running for political office. very shy. and i was chair of the california democratic party. i was always promoting other people and i loved doing that because i really cared. again the one in five driving my engine. and then this opportunity came along to run for congress. and so i went -- four of my kids were in college. see my issue was sequential. it's a whole different world now. i'm from another era. it was sequential. i raised my kids. i had five children the day i had my fifth child, our oldest turned six. that week. oldest turned six. so five and six years. i didn't go out the door. except to take them to the park as soon as possible in the morning.

but the -- so i never had this on my mind or anything like that except then i volunteered in and in and politics and -- politics and became the chair of the party. my advice to you is, i never thought this would happen, but just be ready. and as you go along, whatever it is you are doing, take inventory. and get recognition for what you do. because there may be something that just happened that there's an opportunity, people come to you, or you'll be motivated yourself, to do something, don't let anybody say, well, you did less because you were also being a mom. put that as a gold star next to your -- that you had -- it's the hardest work in the world. right? to be a mom and balance work and home. to be a dad. i don't mean to say mom. but for women especially who are the primary caregivers, we have to have public policy that recognizes the value of work.

that recognizes the caregiver role that we largely play. and have sick leave and have quality affordable childcare. mr. sesno: dante asked you about the balance between education and the military. ms. pelosi: it's the same. some of the scholarship programs that emerged after world war ii were about -- they were national security -- national defense scholarships because the direct relationship between the education of our people and the talent of our military. so i think that it's important to have education of itself. it's essential to our democracy. our founders wanted an informed electorate. so education is so essential. but it's also essential to our national security. and, by the way, nothing reduces the deficit more, nothing than the education of the american

people. there is no initiative, no tax credit, tax this, tax that, tax cut, nothing brings more money, early childhood education, k through 12 higher education, postgraduate, lifetime learning brings more money to the treasury and reduces the deficit. so when they say to you we have to cut pell grants or can't do this or that because we need to reduce the deficit, no. it's a false economy. mr. sesno: we only have a few minutes so let's take a few quick questions. >> hi, i'm a student here. i just wanted to say thank you so much for coming and the work that you do. i've noticed that the sentiment -- prevailing sentiment from the democratic party seems to be that hillary clinton is the nominee is a foregone conclusion. even though sanders has risen in the polls and has gained more donations. do you think that this anti-establishment sentiment may

stem from the very fact that bernie sanders seems to not be taken as seriously as any other candidate would be? also do you wonder if electing such a -- extremely qualified but very, very establishment candidate as hillary clinton would do more to exacerbate the unrest in the electorate right now than it would to solve it? mr. sesno: thanks. let's have another one. >> my name is edward, i'm from sacramento, california. thank you for your service. as so many people have commended. my question is pretty short. when it comes to politics, what is your greatest disappointment and what is your proudest accomplishment? mr. sesno: nice. ok. >> my name is peter, from davis, california. i have a quick question. thatreedom caucus says

among their principal goals are the implementation of more ground-up" in the party. ofy want a democratization the republican party and congress. what do you believe is the right balance between organization input fromround-up rank-and-file members. thank you. ms. pelosi: thank you. mr. sesno: great questions. ms. pelosi: the first one was about -- yet. -- yeah. a very appropriate question. very appropriate question. i have a lot of and these yes him for the fact that it would be fabulous to have a woman president. you can't have somebody vote for somebody because of their gender, but thy -- i think this is a very qualified person who happens to be a woman.

bernie sanders was my colleague in the house. we voted against all of those things that people are subjecting to scrutiny now. he is fabulous. and he is a very important tonic for the country and the democratic party because he has ideas. it is not just let me criticize immigrants or something, he has ideas. [laughter] he is a thoughtful person. and he has done a terrific job of drawing people out, and hopefully they will be out. he might win the nomination. i don't know that because in terms of the democrats and how popular she is -- mr. sesno: kurt bernie sanders when the nomination? theould bernie sanders win nomination? ms. pelosi: i don't know. mr. sesno: you really don't think martin o'malley could when the nomination. [laughter] ms. pelosi: i don't know.

what he did for marriage equality, guns, on the agenda that we want to have nationally, he did there. mr. sesno: does hillary clinton exacerbate the anti-establishment settlements? ms. pelosi: i would say that you have to balance it out. worth, ierson with -- do want is a trouble, but that is what you usually say. i am not crazy about this aspect for that aspect, but as it balances out, i see the reason. and i think that just being a woman, believe me, there will be change. there is nothing establishment about being a woman in politics. [applause] you forink -- thank what you said. and bernie, he is fabulous. mr. sesno: your greatest disappointment, greatest accomplishment? ms. pelosi: the affordable care act. [laughter]

-- [applause] question, the biggest disappointment is to not be able to pass once again background checks as far as gun safety is concerned. the public wants it. [applause] the public wants it. the votes are there. mr. sesno: the votes are there in the congress? ms. pelosi: and in the house. they need 60 votes. but i think if we would pass it in the house, that would take with the argument in the senate of why would i do this. that is something we all have to get around. and that is to extend the background checks to gun shows and internet sales and that kind of thing. mr. sesno: peter's question on balancing ground-up? ms. pelosi: i don't know what works in their caucus. i would be the last person to ask, don't you think? but from what i hear them say, it is quite different than the

way we are. i have always considered myself a leader, but especially a speaker as we go to the floor and things to be a weaver sitting at a loom and say you are my caucus, everyone of you is an important thread in the fabric that we are going to we did so it is with total -- we are going to weave. so it is total respect. we have to recognize the value of every thread. it is like a kaleidoscope. sometimes all of us are at one school and all of you are thinking -- mr. sesno: what is your advice to paul ryan? ms. pelosi: my advice to him is to be speak of the house. sometimes you have to bring bills to the floor that maybe your caucus doesn't want to vote for. some of them should know that it

should pass, they just want to vote for it. that just be speak of the house and don't let anybody take your gavel. that is what i would tell him. mr. sesno: we are going to have to run it down here in the next few minutes. i am afraid we are out of time for questions from the floor. ms. pelosi: well, i will be here. we can talk. mr. sesno: next time. ms. pelosi: where in california are you from deco [laughter] -- from? [laughter] mr. sesno: heather, are you from california? [laughter] i was talking with my friend and colleague kennedy here. i was saying, what should i ask nancy pelosi tomorrow? and he had a bunch of great questions. one of them was what is your path back to the majority? ms. pelosi: oh, you want to talk politics. us try to avoid the subject. [laughter] i do think the republicans have

been helpful. [laughter] the customer showing the unease that they have with each other is like you are going past two homes and you think where should i stop. one place they are screaming at each other and fighting and taking each other down. the other side has some level of harmony. we are a because democratic party and i think that people would gravitate to a place where we have a respect for what we are here to do. mr. sesno: do you have a strategy? ms. pelosi: we have a great chairman. we have the 50th anniversary of the voting rights act. the most important thing we need to do it to make sure people see what martin luther king taught us. the ballot, the ballot, the ballot. the legislation, legislation, legislation. the connection between what happens and elections and what laws can be passed that affect people. leader is taking the lead on this. between the political piece of

it, the inspirational piece of it, and the quality of candidates that are coming forward are superb. mr. sesno: when do you become the majority again? 2005,losi: well, in nobody thought that we were going to win majority in 2006. we just don't know. i can tell you more in a few months when i see who all of our candidates are. but then it is just a question of making the contrast. and i will say of paul that comment he knows the issues, he knows the rules. not everybody does. he also offers us the clearest contrast. the ryan budget will be a polarizing thing. taking $800 billion out of medicare and giving tax cuts to the richest people. block granting medicaid, which apply some us to our seniors. there will be a contrast there.

it is always about the issues. my hope would be that who ever wins the elections, whether it is president or otherwise, they will hear from the public -- social media helps a lot about this -- what is important to them. not just a cacophony of some who and do notnti-anti- have the full grasp of the future of our country and that women have a will to play in all of this. so i am -- i am optimistic. mr. sesno: how many students do we have in the room? how many of the students in the room have some idea of going into some form of public service in your future? ms. pelosi: beautiful. [applause] mr. sesno: you were at john kennedy's and our grill and that can 61 when he talked about

passing the torch to the next generation. -- in 1961 when he talked about passing the torch to the next generation. what is their challenge? what should be their mission? ms. pelosi: the more time passes, the more the values still dominate. was such annedy inspiration and my generation. i was his student. and then i was leader when we had the 50th anniversary and played the speech in the capitol rotunda. but he often harkens back to our founders and what their purpose was for this country, a democracy. and sacrificed their lives their sacred honor, in their own words, for a democracy. a government of the many, not the government of the money. that is really an important point to make. so, when john f. kennedy passed the torch and he asked not what your country can do, you know all of that. it was so inspirational because

he was such a great leader. but also because he tied us to our founding in this incredibly great country. he stilld say that remains in it grayson to many of us, even though it was more than 50 years ago that we lost him. our country, this is the greatest country that has ever existed on the face of the earth. god gave us the opportunity. i always say when i am visiting all over the place, how did god decide we would live in america and they would live in a camp, a refugee camp? i would say his inspiration was america. our inspiration continues to be our great country. and it is not that a newer,

fresher approach to it -- though i think president obama is a thetiful inspiration -- but strength he draws is from what this country is about. so have faith in our country. faith in america. have faith in yourselves to have faith in yourselves because your unique contribution is just that. nobody else can make it. when he spoke, he said ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. the sentence i heard was the very next sentence. of the the citizens world, not ask what america can do for you, but what we can do working together for the freedom of mankind. is the freedom of mankind really our purpose. in our country, in the world. it all harkens back to these people who came up with the idea of freedom and equality.

and so i think america continues to be an inspiration. they told us, these founders, the plural bits in them -- pluribus unum. how brought our country would become. -- broad our country would become. from many, one. we take an oath, every public meeting. one nation, one. remember this way. one nation under god with liberty and justice for all. that pledge to the flag, one nation under god with liberty and justice for all, is really the inspiration of john f. kennedy, of president eisenhower, one of my favorite presidents, going all the way back to our founders. so there is plenty of inspiration and what our country

is. we cannot let it be sidetracked by xenophobia of people ignoring the fact that we are by and large a nation of immigrants. mr. sesno: so your call is to believe in -- ms. pelosi: believe in our country, in america, faith in god, and faith in god means that you respect the dignity and worth of every person. all created equal. and everyone of us. including yourself. you have that spark of divinity. how do you spread that spark? how do you make the difference that you can make check of you can make it by knowing your purpose. what you like to do. we are part of all of the future. but you know about it, how you think strategically about it, how you show people what is in your heart.

and the best advice i ever got running, and this isn't about inspiration, but this is the best advice i ever got, that was be yourself. the most authentic person you can be. authenticity is what the american people seek. and when they find it, they respond to it. so i am so excited to see so many of your razor hands. i guess it would be following if you come to this meeting. you might be interested in public service, but i didn't rely so very many. i am very inspired by all of you. thank you. mr. sesno: you have a job to do, they have a class to go to. i have an authentic gift or your. ms. pelosi: we will see. [laughter] mr. sesno: ok. so -- ms. pelosi: oh, chocolate? mr. sesno: maybe. i understand your something of a e-holic. withve filled a vw vase

chocolate for you to take. california, but we are the best university in america. [laughter] [applause] ms. pelosi: thank you, frank. [applause] thank you, frank. [applause] ms. pelosi: i will display this with great pride in my office as a constant inspiration that all of you are. please come see us on capitol hill. maybe i will be seeing you there officially sometime soon. you are pretty young. maybe i won't. [laughter] come, wenew members sit back and say, here they come, the fresh recruits. who among them will lead this body? who among them will be president

of the united states? maybe in this room. maybe in this room. so thank you for coming today. [applause] mr. sesno: thank you. [applause] thanks to all of you. forry special shout out helping pull this event together. thank you. [applause] ms. pelosi: let's hear it for frank. [laughter] [applause] mr. sesno: thank you so much. thank you so much. [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] [indistinct chatter] >> the light does not require spark. why should my husband's job, or being prevent us from ourselves? that beinglieve

first lady should prevent me from expressing my ideas. [applause] ford spoke hery mind with pro-choice and a supporter of the equal rights amendment. she and president gerald ford openly discussed her battle with breast cancer. she confronted her addiction which defined her post white house years. this internet at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's original series, "first ladies," examining the public and private lives of the women who fill the position of first lady and their theluence on him -- presidency. on "american history tv" on c-span3. all campaign long, c-span takes you on the road to the white house.

unfiltered access to the candidate at town hall meetings, news conferences, rallies, and speeches. we are taking your comments. every campaign event we cover is available on her website at c-span.org -- on our website at c-span.org. announcer: 2016 republican presidential candidate donald trump spoke at a campaign rally on tuesday. this is about one hour 30 minutes. >> it is my honor and privilege to introduce the next president of the united states, donald j trauma -- trump! [applause] [cheering] [applause] were not in a take it ♪ ♪ when i cannot take it anymore

we are not going to take it anymore ♪ -- ♪ this is our life ♪ this is our song [applause] [cheering] mr. trump: what are group. nice place. [no audio] -- [applause] trumñp, -- omp, -- trump, trump, trump, trump, trump.trump trump: i was telling some of the folks backstage i never thought we would do this well this fast. what has happened all over.

it has been really incredible. we have had some amazing results and they continue to come in. we have a little shakeup in iowa. somebody said are you going straight to new hampshire? i love new hampshire. we have great numbers. 38-12. we fell a little behind in iowa, and some people are saying, how can it be? i was just telling a group, we had the biggest crowds, we had the most enthusiastic crowds. everybody said and it is very true -- look at this -- somebody else would, and they would have 50 people and they wouldn't need this room, believe me. in every poll, this isn't just here, the people that are with trump are with trump, they don't go anywhere. they are staying. it is true. i see it. i see it. and we have seen it. a couple times they say that could be the end.

it is the craziest thing, right? they say the people we are with -- we had the most loyal people. everybody says it. the other thing they say is the leadership, number one -- very important, don't you think? when leadership is number one, they say -- or the economy, without question, number one, and by a lot. it is great. i want to take some questions. we could do a little question and answer, right? we have all these cameras going back here. it is always tough when you are on my television all the time -- look, we have 10 topics. how many topics echo 10 -- topics? 10? we want results, we want to get it done. but when you are on live television all those time -- all the time, and the cameras are on and you are talking about immigration and you are talking about the wall.

[cheering] [applause] but we talk about trade and we talk about repealing obamacare. we talk about other things that we talk about, but, you know, you have these points and we can talk about them in different forms in different ways and give different examples, but in the end, it is really about results, isn't it? it is really about results. and you can only talk about the same subjects on live television so many different ways. i talk about industry, i talk about commerce. i talk about how we are losing our jobs to all these different countries. and i give different examples. but it is still going to be a certain number of subjects. i talk about second amendment, i talk about 14th amendment. we talk about amendments. that second amendment, they want to take it away from you. and it is not going to happen. it is not going to happen.

at least with me it is not going to happen. [applause] that i can tell you. [applause] though, weoday, even will talk for a little while, but i want to do some questions and answers. i want you people to excite me for a change, is that ok? [laughter] we are going to have some fun. a few things, i want to bring up a few new subjects. we are goingion -- to be doing a very strong number. it is killing us. it is killing us. and it is bad for the economy, it is bad for all of this illegal immigration, and i have legal, you come in and we are going to have a good time and we are going to be there and you are going to do great. we are not going to hurt our economy and anyway, shape, or form. we are going to make our economy much, much stronger. givee are also going to

jobs to people that are here. we are going to get jobs. we are going to get jobs. but to the illegal immigration -- i did this and i made my determination, i took a deep breath because i will tell you what, it takes courage to say i'm going to run for president. it really does. especially in my case where i have a great business and i love my business, i love doing it. i own some of the great properties in the world. miami, i may never see it again. [laughter] thank you, i love you. look at her. [laughter] scotland, the home of the british open, i'm a never see it again. all of these incredible places that i have, but more than that, it takes courage because when you do it, you're putting yourself out there. beyond anything that anybody has done.

and it even takes courage for politicians to do it. at some point, some of these guys have to leave. don't we agree? it is getting ridiculous. tomorrow night we are having a debate and i was we had more time for the debate. not in terms of three hours because who wants three hours? i could stand up for 20 hours if i had to, but who wants to watch that long? debate essentially lasted for an hour and a half and i was -- couldn't watch it. au have hillary against socialist/communist. [applause] honestly, he is not going to win, just a you understand. he is not going to win, and neither is she. you are right. protectedng totally because in theory she shouldn't be allowed to run. [cheering]

she is being protected. [applause] it is a tough game. it is a nasty game. but she is being totally protected. but she is going to be tim and you still have one more of these guys. he will be out quickly i guess. what do they do when they have zero? they have zero. and i wouldn't say it against our folks. but the have treated me -- some of the zeros have treated me so nastily, right? because they want to start controversy and they want to try and pick up some points. i am not even going to mention it. usually i do. everybody that has hit me so far has gone down. they have gone down. and they have gone down big. and a couple of the ones in zeros, they are the ones that hit the hardest. one of them has a zero with an arrow pointing to the left. that means less than zero. i don't understand, what does it

mean? i assume it is a typo, but maybe not. but when you look at the things that are happening with our country, the trade situation with not just china -- i talk about china of the time because that is the main abuser, the big abuser. the numbers are astronomical. almost $400 billion a year in terms of imbalance. and they send stuff over here, but we can't stand -- send stuff over there. they taxes. my friend can get his stuff over there they tax so big. somebody bought an airplane in , here, can't get it over there because the taxes are so massive that now he is selling it in this country because china will let him have the plane and he has to pay a tax. that io astronomical don't even believe it myself. i am not going to say it because those guys would say, well, he

is wrong. all i can tell you is it is a massive tax. here you don't biplanes because if you do, you will be nese to get them -- buy pla here because if you do, you won't be able to get them -- we have a $70 billion trade imbalance with japan. with all that is going on now in the south china sea and you look where we have a destroyer, relatively small ship, over there, i don't know if howard want to be the captain of that ship right now, but they are being sort of mocked and scorned. a lot of bad things can happen. but we have an agreement with japan, and i love japan, i love china, i love all of them, but their leaders are killing us. they are stronger, sharper, more cunning. the leaders of mexico are killing us. even nabisco, they are taking the biscoe.

right? i am never eating orioles. -- oreossome orioles on the plane. i am not happy they are leaving chicago and moving that big plant to mexico. so when you see this happening, we have to stop. going to beat around the bush and let's talk and let's be nice. nobody can do it like i do it. nobody. honestly, nobody. [applause] [cheering] [applause] i am not saying i am perfect because i am not perfect, nobody is perfect. thank you. i love this guy. handsome guy, i like him. nobody is perfect. when it comes to that stuff, there is nobody better. carl icahn endorsed me the other day. he is not somebody to just do it. he want somebody who knows what

they are doing. you talk about corporate inversions and all of the things that are going on. many of the companies in this country have trillions of dollars cumulatively. take $2.5 trillion overseas right now. they can't get it in. everybody agrees that we should bring it in. the democrats and the republicans, they have agreed for use. they can't make a deal because they have no leader. it is not like, oh, we disagree on obamacare or something else. many of the democrats i speak to -- because i am friendly with all of them, i get along with everybody -- everyone said, oh, you want to be a unifier. i will be the greatest unifier of all. is obama a unifier? many of the democrats that footage for obamacare would never have done it now -- that voted for obama care when --

would never have done it now. it turned out to be a great lie. 28 different times that the note. but when you look at what is happening with corporations, we pay the highest tax anywhere in the world of any country. there are trillions of dollars overseas, and these are great companies in many cases. they have thousands of employees. they can't get their money back. and the reason is bureaucracy. tax iso, big reason, the too high. they don't want to bring $1 million back and pay $300,000 tax. they would rather leave it over there. and if they bring it back, they will be using it to invest in our country. a lot of good things will happen. i happen to believe it is more than $2.5 trillion. but here is the thing. and i use it because it is so incredible. it is not controversial. it is not like you have the

republicans here. everybody agrees. you know that. they can't make a deal. now what is happening -- and this will be the next great story -- as companies are leaving the united states. two reasons. lower taxes, but also to get the money. they've got billions of dollars overseas. they are leaving our country in order to get their money and in order to pay lower tax. and you are talking about one company i know of, i don't know how much they have written about it, but you are talking about 6000 jobs. just one company. you are talking about potentially thousands of companies. york, peoplew would move down and companies would move down to florida or texas or they would leave new jersey, or taxes are quite high, and they would move to another location, right? now they leave our country and they go to other countries. that is what has happened. the world of the internet and

the world a very fast jets, it is a very fast -- different world out there. they are paid a lot of money to make a lot of money for their shareholders. and some of them are foreign. they like to move back to these countries. they bring in executives that are from ireland, from other places, and they don't mind. they have no loyalty to the united states. so my tax plan is something i am very proud of it we are going to solve corporate inversion. we will have that money back -- if i get elected president, that money will be back so fast your head will spin. nobody else will be able to do it. [cheering] [applause] honestly, nobody else even knows about it. the other candidates, most of them don't even know about it. it is not their wheelhouse. it is not the thing. there thing is getting reelected. that is what they are good at. they get reelected and they make promises.

and they are all talk and no action. the same thing happens with these politicians. it is always the same. so we have so many different things, and what i have done with a tax plan, which is something i am very proud of, we brought it down to a few groups because right now you have to go out -- people that aren't doing well though out in higher companies to help them with their tax plans. they will pay $500, $1000 because it is so complicated. and we are going to make it nice and simple. we are getting rid of carried interest, which is something that a lot of rich hedge fund guys love. they don't love me so much anymore, but i don't care. [applause] we are getting rid of a lot of things. we will have nice, simple tax returns. somebody said, why isn't everybody paying? a big percentage will not pay any tax at all. people who are doing badly.

i don't want to use the candidate's name, but they said we want everybody to pay at least something. here is the problem. from the standpoint of bookkeeping, from the standpoint of bureaucracy, you are talking about millions and millions of returns. you are talking about building the irs even bigger. it is a monster. and i can cut it down, way down. and the money you're talking about is far less than the administrative costs. i agree, except for one thing. from a practical standpoint, it is too much. most of these people aren't paying anyway. what i want to do is bring our jobs back from china. bring our jobs back from mexico. [applause] [cheering] bring fairness to our deals. i was in los angeles.

the biggest ships you have ever seen. into thisouring off country, made in japan. we give them practically nothing. the balance is so bad. the imbalance is so bad. and then we have all the strikes. what are people don't know, and only somebody that does this stuff -- it is natural, like a great athlete. like a jack nicholas. he is just better. i do have athletes -- very few -- but there are some people who have a certain ability. we have all the power. we have more power in government. we already now china and japan $1.5 trillion. think of it. business, and in the case of japan, mostly cars,

but they take our business, they take our jobs, factories close down all over the place, and we all their money, right? it is a magic act. for them, not for us. it is going to and. -- end. [applause] icahn, theyike carl are the best negotiators in the world. some of them i think are horrible people, i will be honest with you. do you care they are horrible people? carl happens to be a very nice guy, but he is a brilliant negotiator and a tough cookie. he doesn't want money. he doesn't want to say give me $200,000 here in government money. he just wants to do it. he is proud of their. and it is so easy for him. if i said, carl, do me a favor. the trade deal we have with china is so unfair, we are

losing $400 billion a year, carl. do me a favor. make it fair. i don't have to give him a big speech. [applause] [cheering] you that within a very, very short period of time, things will straighten out. things will straighten out. and it will be to our benefit. think of it. if we are losing that kind of money, that imbalance, some people would say, that is not really a loss. it is a loss. if we have that kind of an imbalance, and supposing you brought it back to zero or even if we lost $100 billion year, that is a lot of money. believe me. i couldn't sleep if i brought it to $100 billion a year. get rid of me in four years, all right? but supposing we brought it back to an hundred billion dollars or he brought it back to zero, do

you know what that means to this country? and start coming back, lots of good things would happen. lots of great things would happen. and maybe our babies, who have all these toys all over the place, maybe they will have 75%. and maybe you will like them better. they will be manufactured here. whenever i order television sets, i ordered thousands and thousands of television sets a year. they all come from south korea. they make all the televisions sony has lost its way a little bit, but sony is japan. , i don't get bids from america. i would love to. i would love to. said there is a company in south carolina that makes televisions. i said where are they? i would like to have a good name, too, by the way. it is nice to see a good name, right?

they don't really make them, they assemble them. the parts come in, they assemble them. but i would love it if we made them. you take south korea. we the fans south korea for essentially nothing. north korea really has nuclear weapons, but we don't talk about him. we made a worst deal ever made with iran, right? the worst. [applause] these are the people -- people are incompetent. or stupid. somebody said you shouldn't play stupid, but it is true. it is stupid. [laughter] [applause] i think -- i mean, i think -- i don't know. is there something going on that we all don't know about? point after point we lost we lost everything. we are giving them $150 billion. it is hard to believe.

i tell somebody, they don't have to develop nuclear, they can buy it. why should they develop it? they can buy it. another are going into syria, they have so much money. they are a terrorist state. they are going into all these different places. we are fighting them in yemen, and yet we are making a deal with them. what it we say, hey, yemen, out. i don't wants -- them over there. i want them back. [applause] and all we have to do -- very simple -- if you have the right message -- i am the right messenger. i have gotten to a point where i have to be braggadocio's. it is terrible, right? i can't say we can all do a wonderful job. people can't do this kind of stuff. first is the wall. no, no, i said i guarantee you

we are going to build a wall. it is going to be a real wall. we are going to have people come through, but they will come through legally. or with visas, which is the same thing. if we need them. [applause] and we want people to come through. i want people to come through. i do want to say no. but we have at least 11 million. nobody has any idea how many. we have been hearing that number four years. i spoke to one of the top people. they have no idea. it might be 5 million. it might also be 32 million. nobody could be 50. where his he? he might be closer than anybody else. but we have to -- look, it is harsh. dwight eisenhower, we all like dwight, right? remember the expression? he got elected. i like ike. how could he be bad, right checkup i think he was -- right?

i think he was a nicer general. i love patton. [cheering] i love them. and we are going to find atton and a cotton -- p we are going to find ourselves a pat and -- patton. and we will find a macarthur. and i am really good at that. we are going to find good people because i told the story where we watch these generals go on television, they shouldn't be on television. they shouldn't be talking. they should be doing. i'm not going to insult him. on our show, a talk show. one of the top, top, top people. what is he doing on television? he is saying, well, isis is very time -- tough. by the way, they took the oil

that i said take. do you remember, i said take the oil? i don't want their dam oil, -- damn oil, but it to now to be another benefit, and we didn't do it. we shouldn't have been in iraq in the first place. and i said that in 2003. [applause] shouldn't have been there. we totally to stabilize the middle east. we totally blew it. but we were there. then obama announced because he is so predictable, we are leaving on a certain date. right? i couldn't believe it. he said, we will have all troops out by a certain day, right? said, no, no, tell me, please because i am a very smart guy but i know a lot of smart guys wouldn't pick that up. i picked that up. you don't know the one i got

high marks on? military. they said i would be the best in the military. [applause] i always say i will be the greatest jobs president that god ever created. i will. but everybody knows that. especially god. everybody knows that. i will be great in the military. and i will build our military so strong, so tough, so incredible nobody is going to mess around. we are never going to have to use it. we are never going to have to use it. [applause] [cheering] [applause] and i'm going to take care of our vets, believe me. they are our greatest people, and our vets are not being as treated as well as illegal immigrants. i'm going to take care of our vets. [applause] so, go back. so, the word is unpredictable. i made a business deal a year ago. i've beaten so badly.

it was so beautiful. it is like a picture. for me, it is like a picture. like a painting when you can do something like that. i made this deal, and it was great. and they did a story recently. it was a nice story. and i said i hope they don't call this guy. they ended up calling this guy. he said, in a respectful way, he because he was so damn unpredictable. that is a positive. that is a positive. [applause] if you are a poker player and you are predictable, you are not going home with much money. but i said, that is not nice what he said. , he i said, wait a minute meant that as a compliment. and i called him. i said, what did you mean by that? he said i think that is the greatest complement i could pay. we cannot figure you out. you came at us from 15 different angles.

with obama, when he announces reality think iraq on a certain date, we shouldn't have been there, but once you announce, the bad guys -- remember they said the surge worked? you know why? said, hey, bad guys what do we have to get killed for? these people don't mind being killed? they say, we don't have to, let's not. they moved back and said, hey, they are leaving. do you remember the date? specific date to the day, we will have all troops out. i'm a great president. so the bad guys, meaning the opponents, they just said, oh, they are leaving any year. let's go back. and what do we have to do because if we do well, maybe he will change his mind. so let's let him think he has this great victory with the surge. the surge worked.

everybody pulled back. he said, let's wait to now we leave -- and now we leave because of a lack of leadership. we leave and it comes apart. that was the search. everybody talks about the search was so great. the surge was great because everybody knew what was happening. they knew it was going to happen. they knew we were leaving. honestly, we were fed up. so they pulled back and said, let's get him out. everybody wanted to leave. i would have done it differently. ien if i wanted to leave, and might or might not, i want even see -- say. people say, what is your attitude on isis? i have a real chance of winning, i don't want to tell you my attitude. i want them to guess. i really don't want to tell you. [applause] the one that thing about our system, we have a system that is lost, let's face it.

hey, look at our leadership. the one bad thing, when i give that answer, they say -- although some people say, we love that, we love that. but when i give that answer, people say, oh, trump doesn't know. he didn't give an answer to exact what he is going to do. exactly. what is he going to do? i know exactly what i'm going to do. eventually after i was asked the question by 10 different reporters, i said, you know, here is the problem. if i don't give the answer, i am not going to win because they write so incredibly negative. if i don't give the answer, i am not going to win. they are going to say chump hitting give us the answer -- trump bidding give us the answer. period of it for a time. i do want to tell you because i actually have a chance.

from the time i have announced, i have been at the top of the coals. we are doing well. iowa, will you get your numbers up, please? [applause] [cheering] [applause] up, iou get these numbers promise you i will do such a good job. first of all, i am a great christian, and i am. i am. remember that. and i do well with the evangelicals paid but the evangelicals let me down a little bit. i don't know what i did. but i am a great christian. i am a believer and i believe in the bible. and i brought my bible to a month ago signed by my mother, mary. and with the address and the date. i want to what date it was because possibly you think i am younger, but she didn't want anybody taking my bible because that was very important to her. it has the address, the date, but i said to myself, you know -- by the way, before i begin,

when you get the numbers up, iowa, please, this is ridiculous. , what is myness competition? i amou think these guys -- not going to say carson. i am not going to say rubio, who is really way down. i am second. it is not terrible. but i don't like being second. second is terrible to me. been isou think that's going -- tahat ben is going to o to china? i have had great victories in terms of deals with china. they come in office. there is no, hello, how are you? a comment, we want deal. in, we want to deal. i'm really good at it folks -- at it, folks, really good.

i will tell you one thing, oh, do i have energy. i toss and turn thinking about how i am going to make the best deal for you folks. i will be tossing and turning. you will have so many deals that are so good for you. we are going to have numbers that are going to be so good. i always joke because nobody get tired -- gets tired of winning. do we win at all, ever? we lose with the military. we lose with trade. when i was going to come back and say we beat china on a deal? when i we going to come back, we beat japan? you know everybody said that, oh, japan, they have so much power because we go them $1.5 trillion. and they send all those cars. they have no power. listen, youo say, have to treat us fairly, they go out of business, folks.

same thing with china. china is not even doing that well, but they just devalued their currency. the biggest in two decades. , theyason they did it felt, oh, well, we can get away with this and it will make it impossible. did you see the results yesterday? horrible because they are not getting stuff out. because everybody is that is their number one weapon. this too trade deal does not even cover it. that is their number one weapon. the trade deal we are making doesn't even cover it. -- peopleay this might say it is terrible, he is a terrible person, terrible human being. i'm actually a nice person. nobody can do the stuff better than me. i know all the guys are running against. they a w