his gender. aybe the next thing we'll hear since he apparently checked off or was reported that he had where he gistration indicated he was an unaffiliated female. perhaps the next we will be told perhaps if he had been allowed to go into the little girl's restroom in elementary school, he wouldn't have snapped and did hose merciless killings. . i don't know if there's anybody else in this body of 435 representatives or anybody in the senate, i don't know, who has ever been court appointed to appeal a death penalty conviction, as i was even

though i begged the judge not to appoint me. he did and i do believe in our adversarial system to the point like john adams said after the boston massacre, for our system to work, it requires adversaries on both sides doing the best they can legally, ethically. and when i got into it, it appeared clear he had not gotten a fair trial, and i later convinced the highest court in texas to reverse his capital murder conviction, which it did. i don't know how many others in this body or the senate have appealed and reversed a capital murder conviction. people always think i'm such a heartless guy but i do believe in the rule of law and i believe it should be followed. and i don't believe it helps the lawlessness that's breaking

out across our land to have an administration that picks and hooses the laws that it likes, to enforce them and have an i.r.s. that abuses their positions mountain law that has homeland security, that deleted thousands of documents, that would help us identify terrorists and then go after the guy that preserved them on iron key.assified a real hero but he's now been forced out of homeland security . he resigned but after they empaneled a grand jury to , became te him terrorists in the way that the government treated them, not

with guns but with the power of this administration. i mean, when somebody's as law abiding as some of our whistleblowers have been only to find that this administration will come after you if you try to stand up for ruth and integrity, can we not xpect lawlessness to break out ? john adams wrote that this government was intended for the governing of a moral and religious people. it's not fit to govern any others. and i know the president and others keep saying there's nowhere in the world that has like equency of shootings

this, mass murders like we do in the united states, but as i've mentioned before, this article by kyle becker, four months ago, has a chart and as e says, if you don't compare apples and oranges, if you actually compare the number of shooting fatalities to a number of people in the country -- to the number of people in the country then no way is 15.3 per million, 1.8 approximately per million in finland, 1.47 per million in lovakia, 1.38 in israel, .75 in switzerland, and .72 in the united states for a million in the united states.

trouble is the loss of even one life is unnecessary, and appropriate steps should be taken to prevent them. my friend, john lott, has an article out today in "national review" and he says -- this is john lott, on sunday, hillary clinton slammed republicans for not being serious about protecting americans from terrorism. quote, how many more americans need to die before we take action? clinton asked in response to friday's shooting at a planned parenthood clinic in colorado springs, she believes that stopping such attacks involves commonsense steps like comprehensive background checks, closing the loopholes that let guns fall in the wrong hands, unquote. within minutes of the attacks

in san bernardino, california, yesterday, clinton pushed again for more regulations. clinton wants to cut down on terrorism by prohibiting people on the no-fly list from buying guns. quote, if you're too dangerous to fly in america you're too dangerous to buy a gun in america, unquote. parentheinsert ticaaly, i have one person who is a highly decorated general in the united states army, lives just outside marshall, texas. we've had number of times tried o help the general, this patriotic, freedom-loving american who's put his life on the line repeatedly, we've had to repeatedly work to get his name off the no-fly list because apparently there's someone with a similar name and

oever that person is, this patriot's name is on the list. well, john lott goes on, are republicans really putting americans in danger by posing new gun control laws? after every mass shooting, clinton and president obama have called for comprehensive or universal background checks, which would apply not only to the purchase of guns from a dealer but also private transfers of guns. however, it wouldn't have stopped any of the mass shootings during obama's tenure. last weekend, clinton, obama and other democrats issued their calls for new legislation before anyone even knew how the colorado shooter had obtained his rifle. colorado already had expanded background checks two years ago . umpqua regon before the

community college shooting in october. france also had background checks system. so, too, does california, which experienced yesterday's attack. yet, while the existing laws didn't stop shootings the very kind clinton claims will stop, he uses these failures imposing similar laws on the rest of the country. the american background check system is supposed to prevent the purchase of a gun by anyone who's been convicted of a felony or certain misdemeanors. the feinstein amount would ban the sale of guns to anyone who's on the terrorist watch list. now, being on the watch list sure sounds bad but it doesn't mean that a person has been convicted of anything. in fact, it's pretty easy to get on the watch list. you can be on it simply because the f.b.i. wants to interview you about someone you might know. according to the tech dirt

website, about 40% of the people on the watch list are considered to be under reasonable suspicion even though they have absolutely no affiliation with any known terrorist group. the number of people on the watch list has grown dramatically under the obama administration. by 2013, there were about 700,000 people on the list. as of 2014, about 50,000 people were on the no-fly list. his is a 10-fold increase. between february, 2004, december, 2014, over 2,000 people on the watch list bought one or more guns. the government has not identified a single one of these people as using a gun in a crime. should the government be able to deny you the right to protect yourself simply because

it wants to ask you about someone you might know? and that isn't the only problem proposed by the expanded background checks. in new york, today's background checks add about $80 to the cost of transferring a gun. in washington state, they add about $60. in washington, d.c., they add $200. in effect, these laws put a tax on guns and can prevent less affluent americans from purchasing them. disproportionately affects poor minorities who live in high crime urban areas. some on the no-fly list are there because of suspected terrorist activity, you can be added making controversial statements or tweets unrelated to terrorism. or the victim of a clerical error or refuse to become a government informant. and i might add, last november, i had leaving london,

a security person tell me they realized i was a u.s. congressman and we're very sorry but that our homeland security department here in the united states said i was to be thoroughly, personally searched along with my bags. i don't know. maybe they didn't like my questioning of the secretary of homeland security and were threatened by my questions trying to get truth out of them. but between february, 2004, december, 2014, over 2,000 people on the watch list bought one or more guns. it's pretty amazing there, but not one of them, not a single one of those people have been accused of using a gun in a crime. so even if these people wanting

this law to be changed it would in have changed the outcome oregon, colorado, california. it seems as if my well-meaning friends are imposing tougher and tougher laws to take away our second amendments rights mean well, but they are proposing things without even knowing whether they would save a single life. certainly they'll take away rights of law-abiding americans, but they certainly have -- would not have changed the outcome in colorado or california. the error rate for identifying potential terror rates is probably similar to those gun purchases.

over 94% of initial denials for gun purchases are dropped after just a preliminary review. 94%. these cases were dropped either because the wrong person had been stopped or because the covered offenses were decades old and the government decided not to prosecute. the total error rate comes to about 99%. putting people on a list and prohibiting them from legally purchasing gubs doesn't really stop them -- guns doesn't really stop them from getting weapons. in fact, people are prohibited from buying certain drugs doesn't mean people can't get them. it's the same with guns and incidentally drug gangs supply both illegal drugs and illegal guns. clinton wants to make a comparison to last week's paris attacks, we should point out that france's strict weapons ban didn't stop the terrorists from getting the ak-47's and

explosive belts they used in the attacks. strangely, the oregon, colorado, california and paris shootings are being used to push for additional gun control laws of the sort that fail to prevent any of those attacks. t's john r. lott jr. today writing. file w, when i proposed kari's law today, i had to be sure that it would make a ifference and that the added burden would not cause any hardly fort, cost money ever, just something that needed to be done. kari's law would be a great law for our country. whereas the laws being hailed as something we must pass wouldn't have saved a single

one of the lives that we will pause in silent and for whom ost of us will pray. mr. speaker, i know that christians are being reviled, certainly in the middle east, being beheaded. here in the united states, after leaders talked about praying for the victims' families, there's been belittling comments made.

but i look at the quote that thomas jefferson provided, it's enscribed at his memorial. god who gave us life, gave us liberty, and can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we remove their only firm basis and conviction in the mind of the people that these liberties are a gift of god, that they're not to be violated but with his wrath? indeed, i tremble for my country when i reflect that god is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever. jefferson, march 4, 1805, in his shall inaugural, said, i lee to the favor of that being in whose hands we are who led our forefathers as israel of old from their native land and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessities

nd comforts of life. ames madison made many . clarations, statements july 23, 1813, national day of public humiliation and prayer proclamation. james madison who is given credit for being the most prolific author in the constitution, said if the public homage of a people can ever be worthy of the favorable regard of the holy and omniscient being to whom it is addressed, it must be guide only by their free choice, by their impulse of their hearts an the dictates of they consciences as such a spectacle must interesting to all christian nations as proving that religion, that gift of heaven for the good of man, free from all course of edicts from

that unhallowed connection with the powers of this world which corrupts religion and making no appeal but to reason to the heart, to the conscience to spread its benign influence everywhere, can attract to the divine altar those free will offerings of humble supplication, thanksgiving, and praise, which alone can be acceptable to him, of course, apitalize him. and as we've observed a time now in our country's history, where we gone from not nine supreme court justices, most of the time it's just five, who have said we don't think, even though the founders have been requiring every day to start with prayer since the beginning of the new constitution, we don't think you should have prayer in public

places. that's a shocker. would have been a shocker to the founders. since they started with prayer from the very beginning. and have continued through to this day. the supreme court goes on to say that yeah, we don't think you should talk about jesus, you can talk about mohammed, you can talk all about islam, but you can't talk about jesus christ. you can't, we've even had federal judges say, you can't mention the name god in your graduation ceremony. our judicial system has a small group of judges who have run amok, who have lost their way, and they've taken the country with them. abraham lincoln said, it is the

duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of god to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon and to recognize the intlime truth announced in the holy scripturing and proven by all history that those nations only are blessed whose god is the lord. t's remarkable that 45 days -- i'm sorry, this is two years from 40-something days before his assassination, abraham lincoln, with people dying all over the country, put this in print in his national day of humiliation, fasting and prayer proclamation, lincoln, abraham lincoln said, we've forgotten

god, we've forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. intoxicated with unbroken success, we've become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace. too proud to pray to the god that made us, it behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended power to confess our national sins, to pray for lemency and forgiveness. just share one more, mr. speaker. william howard taft, the only man in u.s. history to have been president and chief justice, or

any justice, on the supreme court, in 1908, william howard taft said, no man can study the movement of modern civilization from an impartial standpoint and not realize that christianity and the spread of christianity are the basis of hope of modern civilization and the growth of popular self-government. the spirit of christianity is pure democracy, it's a quality of man before god, the equality of man before the law, which is, as i understand, the most god-like manifestation man has ever been able to make. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. does the gentleman have a motion? mr. gohmert: i move that we do do now hereby adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to adjourn. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is adopted. accordingly, the house stands adjourned until noon monday next

on gas pipelines and hydropower projects and reviewing policy on the nation's electric grid. we'll have live coverage of the house when members return here on c-span. c-span capitol hill producer that speaker ys ryan wants flags to be lowered at half staff for the san

bernardino shootings. and it affects flags at the white house, public buildings, military installation, u.s. navy ships. earlier today the president said officials are still trying to determine why the shooters illed 14 people yesterday. president obama: yesterday, a tragedy occurred in san bernardino. as i said in the immediate aftermath, our first order of business is to send our thoughts and prayers to the families of those who've been killed and to pray for the speedy recovery for those who were injured during this terrible attack. i had a chance to speak with mayor davis of san bernardino and i thanked law enforcement in that city for their timely and professional response. i indicated to mayor davis that the entire country is thinking about that community and

thanked him and his office for the way that they've been able to manage extraordinarily difficult situation with calm and clarity and very much appreciated the coordination that's been taking place between local law enforcement and the f.b.i. investigators. at this stage, we do not yet know why this terrible event occurred. do know the two individuals ho were killed were equipped th weapons and appeared to have access to additional weaponry at their homes. but we don't know why they did it. we don't know at this point the extent of their plans. do not know their

motivations. and i just received a briefing from f.b.i. director comey as well as attorney general lynch indicating the course of their investigation. at this point, it's now an f.b.i. investigation. that's been done in cooperation and consultation with local law enforcement. it is possible that this was terrorist related but we don't know. it's also possible that this was workplace related, and until the f.b.i.'s been able to conduct what are going to be a large number of interviews, until we understand the nature of the workplace relationship and his e individual superiors -- because he worked

with the organization where this terrible shooting took lace -- until all the social media and electronic information has been exploited, we are not able to answer those questions. but what i can assure the american people is we're going to get to the bottom of this and that we are going to be vigilant as we always are in getting the facts before we issue any decisive judgments in erms of how this occurred. ore broadly, like i said yesterday, we see the prevalence of these kinds of mass shootings in this country, and i think so many americans sometimes feel as if there's nothing we can do about it. we are fortunate to have an extraordinary combination of

law enforcement and intelligence and military that work every single day to keep us safe, but we can't just leave it to our professionals problem of the these kinds of global killings. we all have a part to play, and i do think as the investigation moves forward, it's going to be important for all of us, including our legislatures, to see what we can do to make sure that when individuals decide they want to do somebody harm, we're making it a little harder for them to do it, because right now it's just too easy. you know, we're going to have to, i think, search ourselves as a society to make sure we that would ic steps make it harder, not impossible,

but harder for individuals to get access to weapons. so there will be, i think, a press conference later today led by the attorney general. director comey will continue to brief not only the press but also members of congress about the course of the investigation. our expectation is that this may take some time before we're able to sort it all through. there may be mixed motives involved in this, which makes the investigation more complicated. but rest assured that we will get to the bottom of this and in the meantime once again i want to offer our deepest condolences to those who have been affected by this terrible tragedy. for those that have been injured, we hope they get well quickly and they're able to be

back together with their families. thank you very much, everybody. [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] >> also this morning, a house republican task force announced plans to change the u.s. waiver program after yesterday's shooting in san bernardino that left 14 people dead. capitol hill producer craig caplan reports the house will vote on the bill next tuesday. here's that 20-minute capitol hill briefing.

mr. mccarthy: so you did come in. that's a good sign. well, thank you, all, for coming. as you know, we put together the task force on counterterrorism and homeland security just a couple weeks ago. within that task force you have found a number of chairmen. we took the committees of jurisdiction, brought them together to look and analyze from a short-term and long-term basis for the security of this country and what we see before us, especially after what transpired in paris. nd in those we found one was a challenge before us was when it came to refugees. we were able to craft work that had already been done in a number of these committees together, bring it to the floor and in a bipartisan vote, a veto-proof passed a few short weeks ago. one of the -- one of the

highest concerns of security we had was the visa waiver program. many know there's 38 countries participating. but in the homeland security, hey have worked on this with the camdace miller bill. we looked at those recommendations for making sure that everybody has an epassport, making sure that every country, if they have a lost or stolen passport that they report it into interpol. we also looked, what about travel? if you look at the mastermind behind paris he bragged about the freedom of travel throughout europe and the easyness of it. we have a real concern of that ability to come to america without having a check. so within this bill, we take those aspects to make america safer. i'm proud to say this is going to be a very strong bipartisan support and this bill will become law. the process of work from all

these committees, the work testify' done through the years and we worked on the other side of the aisle as well. i think this is an example of the way congress sees a problem and should solve it, because this becomes a solution, not a political talking point. and i want to bring up the author of the bill that had worked very hard on this long before these incidents taking place, candice miller. mrs. miller: thank you very much, mr. leader. first of all, what is a visa waiver program? very quickly as the leader said, he said something -- it had its origin, its genesis back in the 1980's in our country because we wanted to expedite tourism and travel to the united states. economically it's been a tremendous success. however, things have changed. we're in a different world today than we were back in the 1980's -- than we were back in the 1980's, so we identified this visa waiver program something that leaves our country vulnerable. there are 38 participating country, and if you're a

citizen in one of those 38 participating countries you don't have the necessity to go to the u.s. embassy or consulate to get your visa. you can travel visa-free. they still do a background, check your passport, but you don't have to get a visa for up to 90 days. there's reciprocity within the united states with that. that is obviously a huge vulnerability. so what our bill essentially does, and was mentioned, this is a bipartisan bill. we are -- we need to talk about regular order. this is a bill that's had a number of hearings in the homeland security committee and the subcommittee that i chair there, borders and maritime, judiciary also had some hearings on this bill -- on this issue. and it passed out of the homeland security committee unanimously, which doesn't always happen on this hill. so every democrat, every republican and so we are looking for a very, very big vote next week and essentially what it does. if you are one of these participating countries and you do not share the information

rather through the travel manifest or terrorist watch lists they might be maintaining in the various countries with us and the department of homeland security secretary does not have the confidence level, the high comfort level that we need to be able to ensure that our homeland is safe, he can suspend or eliminate you from the program. and as well, there are a number of other components but that really is a big thing. information sharing and also using e-passports which we have. most of these participating countries do not have. so that will be another requirement as well. you know the 9/11 commission said a couple very interesting things in their recommendations. first of all, they said we need to move from the need-to-know information to the need-to-share information, not just in the united states but certainly in a program like this and as well they said, for terrorists, travel documents are as good as weapons. we need to think in those terms, i think. we're very excited about having this bill come to the floor tomorrow. i certainly want to thank all

the chairmen, all the various committee members that worked on it and the leadership as well for bringing this along. thank you. mr. mccarthy: -- mr. goodlatte: well, i'm bob goodlatte, chairman of the house judiciary committee. i want to thank the leader and the committee chairmen and especially chairman miller, not in her role as chairman of the administration committee, but an advocate, working together for producing this very important information. it's important to understand that the visa waiver program is a very important program but it's also a privilege. it's a privilege that we bestow on citizens of 38 countries, more than 160 countries do not get to participate in this and security concerns have been raised because various countries have had various levels of participation in the protocols that are necessary to make a program like this work, making sure you have biometric

passports, making sure you're giving interpol the information they need. what this legislation is going to do is to make it very clear a t if you are one of the -- citizen or passport holder from one of those countries and you travel to the four countries designated here or any of the four countries designated by , since tary of d.h.s. citizen, you will not be able to utilize the visa waiver program. you have to go and apply for a visa, but it's important to understand, no one specifically by this bill is barred from entering the united states. it simply adds an additional security precaution of going to get a visa to come to the country rather than bypassing that process which contains additional scrutiny. this does not solve all the problems we have with making

sure our borders are secure and that the interior of our country is secure from those who would come in and commit mayhem. there are other provisions that we've taken with the refugee program. there are many other bills that the judiciary committee has worked on, the homeland security committee has worked on that would address additional concerns regarding the access of people who have terrorist intent to the united states, and we look forward to working together on all those measures as well. thank you. mr. mccarthy: chairman mccaul. mr. mccaul: thank you, leader. i want to thank you for bringing this legislation so quickly to the floor. it's a response in many ways to what happened in paris. i want to thank the judiciary for working well with us. i think it's important to state why we need this legislation. when baghdadi was released out of prison in iraq what he said is, i'll see you in new york.

isis hases a intent to hit the west. they openly declared their intent to washington and new york. we came up with a bipartisan foreign fighter task force report with 50 key findings and recommendations and legislative recommendations as well. visa waiver being one of the top recommendations that we needed to fix. what we found in the report is disturbing. 30,000 foreign fighters from 100 different countries, 5,000 of those foreign fighters have western passports. so what does that mean? that means 5,000 foreign fighters with western passports can enter the united states without a visa. and when you look at paris, several of the paris attackers carried western passports. that means that the paris attackers, the ones that had the western passports, could have entered the united states without a visa.

that's why this legislation is so important. it will strengthen the visa waiver program, not abolish it, but strengthen it to keep terrorists from reaching our shores and entering into our homeland and as was mentioned, there are specific designated countries, particularly those with terrorist concerns that you will have to -- you'll be required to get a visa before you enter the united states. you will not receive a waiver. that is the importance -- i think that's the immediacy. that's the emergency concern that we have and that's why we're pushing this -- be on the floor next tuesday and i want to commend the leader for bringing this forward but also the bipartisan nature that candice miller cultivated on the committee to pass it unanimously but also for this thing to pass in a bipartisan manner on both sides of the aisle of the house, which is why we -- how we should conduct business on matters of national

security. thank you. mr. mccarthy: chairman of foreign affairs, ed royce. mr. royce: thank you. our main objective here, obviously, is to keep the american people safe. and the challenge that we have -- and i recently had an opportunity to speak to a number of authorities in europe about this problem. the challenge we have is that over 5,000 foreign fighters with passports have traveled to syria but then traveled back into europe. and so the question for the european government, they're frankly in a conundrum here because they don't have the personnel to be able to monitor and follow all of those suspected of terrorism and many of those who've traveled to syria and traveled back. so the point of this legislation is to make certain we don't end up fast tracking the ability of people who have that european passport to come in the united states, to fly

into new york or some other capital or some other major american city and carry out the same types of attacks here that they're planning right now in europe. and this will give us the capacity, also, through this system to discover those stolen passports and also those forged passports that are often being used as we put these new controls into effect. so i think it frankly strengthens the visa waiver system. that system is important for our economy, but right now in terms of security, the europeans have made it clear to us, the conundrum they face and it's incumbent, i think, upon us to make sure we don't have the same difficulty here. thank you. mr. mccarthy: and chairman of financial services, jeb hensarling. mr. hensarling: well, clearly as a congress we have no more important or sacred responsibility than to protect the american people from all enemies, foreign and domestic. under the leadership of speaker

ryan and leader mccarthy, the house has moved quickly and deliberately to first deal with the challenge of the syrian refugee situation and now with the great leadership of chairman miller, we will soon deal obviously with the even greater challenge of the visa waiver program. as chairman of the house financial services committee, we have already held a half a dozen different hearings on the subject of terrorist financing, and at the appropriate time we look forward to working with our leadership in bringing legislation to help crimp the financial fuel line to terrorism. mr. mccarthy: i want to thank everybody part of the task force. i know we've been in a short time but this is the second piece of legislation coming forward, both of them bipartisan. this will be put on suspension with the support it has on both sides. want part i want to emphasize. 5,000 western passport holders have traveled to iraq or syria.

this is why this is needed now to be able to combat this. i know conference went long. i can only take a few questions. >> is this will end up in the omnibus bill or will this be separate? mr. mccarthy: i want this to become law. any enue for it to become law whatever it takes. >> do you expect the white house to support it? mr. mccarthy: yes. >> i wonder why there weren't democrats present with you. and if you have a comment on what happened in california? mr. mccarthy: first, i'll take california, of course. what we watched, unbelievable. our prayers, our thoughts, we would not want that to happen anyplace in america. i don't know, yet, of why it took place. i don't think it may be, from

what it's trending to, the information we're getting, i want to make sure we get all the information out. maybe that's something that this task force has to look at as well, but as of right now, our hearts and prayers go to the families and the lost victims and also to those first responders, putting their lives on the line too in the videos we see coming out. we want to make sure we get all the information. as the speaker talked about earlier this week, we have been working with and we had a markup on tim murphy's bill dealing with mental health. there had been a theme through a lot of the other shootings. i don't know yet if that theme's coming out of this one. it could be motivated in a different manner to have the go pro, to have the flack jacket. that seems very well planned. we just worked with murphy before. there needs to be an overhaul of our mental health program. yes. >> one of the things the democrats talked a lot about in the wake of the paris attacks is folks on watch list are still able to buy firearms. is that something this task

force is going to take up? mr. mccarthy: we will look at all items when it comes to -- and the uniqueness of why this task force was put together and you see so much expertise from so many committees and the work, we have to think differently knowing the way the terrorists think and the way they look at. looking at any gaps or any vulnerabilities that we have out there. you asked another part of your question. i apologize. we have worked with steny hoyer and his staff throughout. we had had this scheduled prior, just the task force, but in is bipartisan work. >> you talked about addressing mental health issues. democrats also want to lift the ban on medical research on gun violce. it's been in spending bills. is that something you'll consider? mr. mccarthy: you know, it hasn't been brought up to me yet. >> trying to put it in the omnibus? mr. mccarthy: hal is not here. he's working on the omni. we will have the committee do

the majority of that work. last question. >> the economic impact of the visa waiver program, changes. i'm sure a lot of tourists come to california. are you concerned about this at all? mr. mccarthy: not with this bill. correct me if i'm wrong, u.s. travel supports this bill. found ed to make sure we common ground, protect the united states and have people come to america because we want them to. we want them to enjoy the freedoms, go to the attractions. we want to make sure that terrorists do not come to the united states and i think this bill is the first step in the right direction. thank you, all, very much. iraq, sear yarks iran and sudan. -- syria, iran and sudan.

>> live coverage here on c-span continues at 8:30 eastern when attorney general loretta lynch takes part in an arm chair conversation in the annual muslim advocates dinner with the president of that group. she will talk about anti-muslim hate and discrimination. that's tonight at 8:30 eastern ere on c-span. >> every weekend on "american history tv" on c-span3 -- 48 hours of programs and events that tell our nation's story. saturday morning beginning at 11:00 eastern, we're live from historic colonial williamsburg bringing you scenes from the 1770's, the eve of the american revolution with re-enactments and british loyalists mingling on the streets. we'll tour the governor's palace and virginia capitol building and we'll take your calls and tweets with historians and experts. sunday morning at 10:00 on

"road to the white house rewind," we'll hear the aspirations from presidential hopefuls. former secretary donald rumsfeld talks about him running from new hampshire. and dick cheney talks about his run in the 1994 presidential race. >> i used to think of it as a political landscape and figure out who's going to run and what your prospects were. the more i think about it the more it becomes a personal decision rather than a political decision. >> and letter on "lectures and history," edwardsville history professor robert paulette on the caribbean sugar trade, its role in the development of britain's colonies and the impacts on slavery in the 1600's. >> sugar was one of the main motors of the slave trade in the americas. 75% of all africans brought to the americas in the 1600's were brought to areas where they were growing and making sugar.

it was a huge business. it was some scholars argue the first industrial enterprise in the western world. >> "american history tv" all weekend, every weekend only on krupp 3. -- c-span3. >> she was such an authentic person. i always thought there was more to the story of lady bird than anybody had ever covered, certainly when i wrote about our book on the first ladies. she became, i think, the first modern first lady. in other words, she had a big staff. she had a very important project. she wrote her book as soon as she left the white house. she really invented the modern first lady. >> sunday night on "q&a," historian betty boyd caroli talks about her book "lady bird and lyndon." the former first lady's diaries, giving an insight of he relationship of lady bird

and lyndon johnson. >> lady bird is an example of the conclusion i came to which is those women saw something in those men, the ambition, the opportunity to really climb and make a mark in the world and they married them in spite of parental objection so she's a good example of that. and that's why i decided i had to find out more about her. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern and pacific on c-span's "q&a." >> the republican jewish coalition today held a presidential candidate forum here in washington. we'll hear from some of those candidates coming up next here on c-span. and we'll start with texas enator ted cruz. senator cruz: well, thank you very much for the kind introduction and it's been great spending time with ed and

alyssa and their wonderful, wonderful family. it's so great to be with so many dear friends here this morning. i'd like to begin by just remembering those who were murdered in sbernsbern -- san bernardino yesterday. i would ask if we could observe a moment of silence in their honor. senator cruz: at this point, the details of what happened in san bernardino are still unclear, but our prayers are with the families of those who were murdered, of those who

were shot and all of us are deeply concerned that this is yet another manifestation of terrorism, radical islamic terrorism here at home. coming on the wake of the rror attack in paris, this horrific murder underscores that we are at a time of war. whether or not the current administration realizes it or s willing to acknowledge it, , r enemies are at war with us and i believe this nation needs a wartime president to defend it. [applause] in recent weeks, president obama traveled abroad to

explain that he doesn't believe in american leadership, that he doesn't believe in america winning, quote, i don't have time for that. u know, i got to say, f.d.r. and j.f.k. and ronald reagan were spinning in their graves to hear an american president say he doesn't believe in american leadership or america winning. i'll tell you, when it comes to radical islamic terrorism, i think our strategy to borrow a page from ronald reagan and the cold war should be very simple, we win, they lose. [applause] and there are three things the next president should do to keep this nation safe. the first is speak the truth.

[applause] the truth has power, and at this point, the politically correct double speak that comes from the obama administration has gone beyond the point of ridiculous. when the president stands up and says, the islamic state isn't islamic -- [laughter] that's just nutty. [applause] we need a president who will call the enemy by its name -- radical islamic terrorism -- and we will defeat it. [applause] you know, there's a power to speaking the truth. back when israel was facing daily rocket fire with hamas, i

joined with new york democrat kirsten jill gand in introducing -- gillibrand in introducing a resolution saying it was a war crime. that resolution passed both houses of congress unanimously as we came together to speak the truth. likewise, following the terrorist attack that occurred in fort hood over five years ago, the obama administration refused to speak the truth, refused to acknowledge that nadal hassan, who had communicated with anwr al-awlaki, a known radical leric, who asked about the permissiblity about waving jihad, who walked through fort alud akbar, the obama administration characterized that instead as

workplace violence. one of the things i'm most proud about my tenure in the senate is that i introduced the legislation to mandate that the purple heart be awarded to those soldiers who were murdered. [applause] the obama pentagon fought tooth and nail against that legislation. yet, i'm proud to say on the senate armed services committee, i was able to earn the support of both republicans and democrats. we passed it into law in december, and in april i was at the ceremony where those purple hearts were awarded and to each of the family members i simply shook their hands, looked them in the eyes and said, i'm sorry. i'm sorry it took five years to acknowledge the sacrifice of your loved one. you know, when it comes to speaking the truth, this administration does precisely the opposite. we have a president right now

who at times operates as an apologist for radical islamic terrorists. now, i don't use that word lightly. the word apologist is someone that gives a rationalization, the justification. i was at the last national prayer breakfast, you recall the day before isis had lit a jordanian pilot on fire. the king of jordan, who was supposed to attend the prayer breakfast, had to fly back to jordan and president obama gave a speech in which he said, yes, isis commits terrorist attacks but so do christians and so do jews. and he then invoked the crusades and the inc. wigs. now -- inquisition. now, last i checked, those ended about 900 years ago, and i don't think it's asking too much for the president of the

united states to stay in the current millennium. [applause] and the argument this is just like the crusades and the inc. which significance is exact -- inquisition is the same arguments that the terrorists use. it isn't beneficial when the cretary of state, john kerry -- you know him well. [laughter] suggests months ago that israel state ecome an apartheid or when the secretary of state, john kerry, also says that the terrorist attack against charlie hebdo was understandable. the united states of america should not be trying to

rationalize terrorists. i tell you when john kerry was nominated, only three senators voted against his confirmation. never have i been prouder than to have been in that gang of three. [applause] and when kerry called israel an apartheid state, i went to the senate floor and called for kerry's resignation. and i would note that we need more senators, both republicans and democrats, that likewise call for accountability when the secretary of state uses language that undermines the safety and security of our allies. [applause]