they want to be there is totally ridiculous, wrong. we will never win elections with that. we will become a minority party. i know people in this room do not believe that. if you start with the premise that the state, if they got the chance to do in the unique ways, each community would hav do it. the state-federal relationship would be focused on outcomes -- how may people are getting in poverty, not how many people are staying in it. right now, you measure the poverty programs by how many .eople are on the rolls we have to turn that around. secondly, we have to have one income eligibility requirement. when i travel around, i see a lot of people not receiving government assistance, but they fromne paycheck away

real disaster, or two. they are struggling, working as hard as they can -- they may be working two jobs. the fact is there should be equity between people receiving government assistance and though striving to live an independent life. work needs to be the single biggest requirement. no more waivers, as this a administration has done. there should be real work eligibility. that means we have to transform our education and training programs. right now, we have a skills gap. if they do not have the skills to get a job, that is the first step. all of our workforce programs have to be revamped. imagine a system where you were starting from scratch. not the one we have today. if you have the same amount money, but could deliver these programs to help people get out of poverty a different way.

you would reward marriage, not penalize it. .ou would reward work you would promote, in a genetically different fashion, education so that more and more of our young people were college or career ready. and, training programs so that you customize it so that people achieve their dreams. shift all of this back to communities, and allow those four pillars for an upward a radicallyety -- different education system, a focus on work, a focus on marriage because that is important, and having education system that allows people to

rise up. we can make this happen. particularly when we have a president that is committed to it. the old way has failed. it is easier to make this case people know this has failed. look at the number of people who are completely dependent on government they and have no hope . they cannot live life. they are creating strains for their families and thei themselves that is unjustified in this great country of ours. [applause] ryan: youo made work supports an important part of your agenda as new jersey governor. you increased your states earned income tax credit. you focused on the work f irst progress. how have you been able to measure successes? how would you translate that

policy? christie: we have to really reward the people out there doing it. as the economy got better and more jobs were available, especially in the private sector, we wanted to encourage people to make that transition, like jeb was talking about in his answer. if you give people the choice of earning more money on the couch than getting a job -- that is what people are facing now. it does not make any sense for me in my family. if i went and got a job, i would make less than i would write now with all the programs put together. doubling the earned income tax ways ofas one of the doing that. it is essentially refundable tax credit meaning that when you go

to work, even if you are not paying income taxes in new jersey because your threshold is too low to pay, we are going to based ona check that the fact that you are earning your income and you will get a check that supplements your income from the government. it is based on the fact that you are working, you are earning your income. i hear people complain about this all the time but don't articulate it completely. they say, people are on the couch, not working, we have to change the system. you are right, but for some of those folks, they are confronted with the ugly truth that if they did get off the couch and went to work, they would make less. representative ryan: in some cases, without it, a person would lose materially if they take the job. the eitc helps reduce that problem. governor christie: that's right.

remember, our state is a very high cost state. everything is a bit more extensive than other parts in the country. grows even wider in a state like mine. one of the things that we did not talk about that is a barrier that we have to address and the federal government is doing the drug way -- dealing with addiction. george and is the huge part of the debilitating cycle. hope, a lot of them turn, out of desperation, to drugs. then we have a situation where incarceration goes higher because of the policies of the federal government. that is why, in new jersey, one , we said,ngs we did if you are a first time

nonviolent drug offender, you do not go to prison anymore. this is the disease. if we continue to treat it where andare not a violent prison making a profit off of it, you are an addict. if we put them in jail, and don't give them treatment, and release him from jail, and wonder why they don't get a job, they don't play a role in raising their children -- of course they don't. they are suffering from a disease that prevents them from doing it. it has been 30 years or so of the war on drugs. there will always be jail cells for people committing violent acts, but we need to get people who are addicts and diseased out of those jail cells and give them treatment.

you cannot go to work if you cannot get out of bed in the morning. you cannot get work if you are or cocaine.in no one will hire you. we talk about the various. our policies of the federal government are doing nothing to deal with the real problem that people can beis treated. this is the disease. we can make people better. when we do that, we do what ben was talking about which is rebuilt families when a father, a daughter, a sister, a brother youes back into a family -- cannot calculate the positive effect that has on a family or community. we need to do more of that. that is one of the barriers of poverty. the power to treat people, not incarcerate people. [applause] scott: it is an important point -- je governor bush: it is an

important point. are incarcerated for drug offenses. this is an area where conservatives and the president agreed. president's impulse is to use the clemency process. that isr point important is to give people a second chance. if you believe that marriage is important, and it is, and you believe that work is important, if you have a record, you cannot get a job. increasingly, men are becoming obsolete in lower income communities. we have to make sure that they are empowered to do their job. i think that withholding adjudication as part of the .lement is a key element

if you are on the road to recovery, your crime, whatever .t was, would be wiped out the employment reforms that some of the larger corporations are looking at -- we have to make sure that people have access to opportunities that exist. other thing, on earned areme tax credit, if you 21-25, you cannot get it. earned income tax credit needs to be extended to them. you need to get men engaged in the workforce again. you cannot have a society where they are obsolete. we see it play out. we see the criminal justice system be overwhelmed. this is an area where there is common ground left and right. i hope you get the president action do his job. [applause] ryan: i think

there is a common misconception oft the eitc is part welfare. it is not. friedmanilton concepts. -- weis so much fraud have to go after the fraud. it is a lump sum at the end of the year. seal that ite the makes sense to work. christie: one of the things we did in new jersey was an power the treasure to do a fraud investigation. we eliminated a good amount of the fraud and made an example for those who are doing it.

that helped to reinforce everyone's confidence in the program. part of the deal we made was we ,ill agree to double the eitc but you need to agree to empower the state treasurer to give the public credit and confidence in it credit for the fact that they are willing to step up and help folks, but also confidence that we are not just throwing the money in the fireplace. carson: we should senator scot? it may not be a popular thing to say, but the earned income tax credit, any manipulation of the tax system, for whatever good reason, i generally don't agree with. i think we need to make the income tax system very simple and extremely fair, and stop

having all these different variations because -- [applause] mr. carson: what those things do, they create bureaucracy. it feeds the system. the system is already too big. million federalr employees. we can keep finding reasons to do more things. i think the way that we handled the situation is to begin to teach the populace that if you can stay at home and get government subsidies, or get a minimum wage job, maybe get a little more staying at home. let's teach those people that when you go to work, you meet people, they get opportunities and they are much better off than the person sitting at home receiving those things. that is the can-do attitude that made america great, not the "

what can you do" attitude that is taking us down. [applause] christie: i'm all for the president encouraging making work something more than just get.aycheck that you the practical fact of the matter is when you actually look at the and thee programs work responsibility for measuring them, the presence rhetoric is not going to make it so that -- that person will not make that decision, no matter how much the president tells them they can go up the ladder, but they say, i'm losing my apartment, i'm not going to put my children on the street. we have to be practical.

jeb said this before. if we started from the beginning, we could do things a lot differently. we have to be practical about this in this respect. if we say, we are not going to give people that choice, we are going to speak to them about it, and try to convince them. they will not make a choice. be will not change what is happening in this country. i'm not saying that every one of these programs is perfect. eitc is embedded in what is our tax system in new jersey. the bigger problem is we have to figure out a way to reverse what this president has done over the last seven years which is to one people more comfortable dependents. stayor scott: let's

on the topic of taxes. you talked about retained repatriation. you out on top of that that corporate inversions have been happening. impact that is lowered the tax rate. you came up with the ta a tax pn to do that. mr. president why does congress does- mr. carson: why congress have the ability to tax? it was to run the government. it was not to affect people's .ehavior we need to get back to the basics. i want a completely flat tax. everybody pays exactly the same

rate. i base that on the bible. toi ended up seceding homelessness. >> when i was done, i was looking at 17 years in prison. >> step 13 is a program guided by sobriety, work, and accountability. when they work in the door, they are introduced into a program that we call it. -- call a peer community. it is a program that allows men to recover from alcohol and/or drug interaction and returned to ar productive life where they can contribute to their communities and their family. >> i have a fire in me now that i didn't used to have.

>> there is a light at the end of the tunnel. >> please welcome back your said it timsaid it ti scott and speaker paul ryan -- senator tim scott and speaker paul ryan. [applause] ryan: there are people standing in the back. in the front.s scott: what speaker ryan

for -- in theutch front, there are spots for your hindside. i have an affinity for southern fellows. we have the governor of arkansas, mike huckabee. [applause] governor huckabee: hello, mr. speaker. senator scott: i was looking back at the work you have done over the last several years. i love the name of one of your books, "hope, the higher ground." why don't you talk about the road to recovery for those of us who have had to go through poverty. i grew up inabee:

poverty. i understand what is like to grow up poor. i find it amazing what people talk about poor people as though people are poor because they want to be. if you grow poor, i guarantee that you do not want to be that way. you never wanted people to make fun of your shoes or the fact that you had two pairs of jeans and nothing more. you did not enjoy that. you did not enjoy when your friends would talk about they went on vacation, and you never did. i did not grow up resentful. i grow optimistic and hopeful that, in america, there would still be the opportunity to get an education, work hard, and one day, enjoy more than i grew up enjoying. i believe that there is an incredible opportunity for us in this country to reclaim the spirit of america where people are rewarded for their work. when that happens, and we give them opportunity, we will see the growth of not just our economy, but of people being .ble to move upwardly

i think sometimes the government policies that we created are created by people who never spent a day poor. they don't understand. it is one of the reasons we need a new vision, a new approach, and is why i am so very delighted to be with the two of you today to talk about it. speaker ryan: let me ask you this. arrogance, what is the biggest thing that people miss what we talk about fighting poverty? what is the biggest thing that we miss? governor huckabee: there is an industry of poverty built around the notion that, if we have organizations and advocacy groups, that will result poverty -- resolve poverty. we spent over $2 trillion and the poverty rate is pretty much the same as it was 50 years ago. we did not really do much to move the needle. part of the reason is because we did not attack some of the

fundamental purposes and reasons that people cannot get out of the hole. when i was governor, and we reforms welfare in the 1990's, we were given a lot of flexibility as to how we did it. it worked because we knew our demographics, our people. people,that half of the to get them into work, the transition, that is the challenge. .e did it a lot of the programs are designed this way. if you are single mom and able stampsc,, food medicaid, section eight housing, in some states, transportation assistance -- there are a host of benefits that can be tapped into. most of them are necessary for those families to survive, and some of them still have a hard time. if a parent goes to work and whichat the only job for

they are qualified, which is probably a minimum wage job, and they work enough, they will work themselves right up to the threshold at which those programs to secure. totallyually could impoverished their families where they have not enough food, no roof over their head. people say -- i have heard it put this way, welfare mothers ought to get out and work. i think, those welfare governments are a lot smarter than the idiots in government who designed the program that punishes them for trying. what you need is a sliding scale so that you do not lose all of your benefits. speaker ryan: i agree. i think that is what we call a poverty tax which is a big tax against work. the administration has trapped more people in poverty thinking

that if we treat the symptoms of poverty than the job is done, when all we are doing is trapping people in poverty. the challenge with sliding the scale down is each person is different. there are different benefits, different situations. it is hard to come up with a one size. how do you get at that at the human, individual level so that you can always, in every person's instance, make work pay? governor huckabee: let me offer to suggestions. one is something we have done at the -- that could be at the congressional level. let these programs be managed at the state level. governors have to balance their budgets. they are close to their people. they will be held accountable for their results. they are in a position to decide

what will work for their state. massachusetts and arkansas are very different. you have to let the programs be administered, and the details of the design be done as opposed to the people as possible. it is a little something called the 10th and amendment. that is one thing. the reason i am a strong tax -- it is ahe tax at the point of consumption, not productivity. our tax system defies common sense. bythey were, we punish them taxing their work. if they say, we punish them by taxing their savings. and, we tax them for being good their resources because we tax their inheritance.

if we tax at the point of consumption, we tax what they pay. nhe fair tax has a underlying principle. here is what it does. people at the bottom third of the economy are those who benefit the most. for person works today eight hours, and cannot really make it on that because they are working at the factory, busting it, but cannot make it, and shifts,will work double y daughter throughroug college. if you work a 16 hour day, you would think you would make a double paycheck, but you don't. tax bracket. the incentive is work as little as possible.

it would be a powerful and youg of the economy bring capital back into the united states that has been part of offshore.. 60,000 plants have closed since the year of 2000. we are talking about putting rocket fuel in the economy which is the only thing that solves the economy -- giving people jobs that pay enough money for succeed.urvive and [applause] speaker ryan: you see the fair tax having a positive impact on tax aversion. would you suggest that you would also eliminate the irs? governor huckabee: it is the only plan that eliminates the

irs. [applause] governor huckabee: look, i'm pretty blunt. entity.it is a rogue in our system of jurisprudence, we are innocent until proven guilty. a presumption of innocence is ours. the burden of proof is on the .ccuser we are find and targeted at the beginning of the process, not the end. if we are found innocent, we are given our money back. if we are found guilty, we lose

our money, interest, and we could go to jail. i could spend 10 minutes going into the new controls that we put on the irs, and all the strings and riders we did, but i will not spend five minutes doing that. the president said that economic inequality is the "defining challenge of our time to go do ." do you think focusing on inequality is the way to fight poverty? governor huckabee: focusing on the solution is the way to make it work. making anon is environment where jobs are brought back to the united states. be used to make things in this country. wew we make up things -- designed the iphone, but it is made in china. we tax capital and labor.

we tax the people building something and the parts and pieces that they are building it with. if they make the same product in china, they do not tax capital and labor for items of export. they are not taxed as they are built. we do not tax at import. the result is there is a 22% embedded cost in what we make in this country first what is made in china, mexico, or indonesia. there is no wonder that prices in america for many things are more expensive because it is inherently more expensive. the fair tax take that out. chair in thes carolinas where we used to build a lot of furniture, 22% of it is taxed. if you build it in china, it has a 22% advantage. both chairs are untaxed until they are purchased. now, you have an equal marketplace. labor account for cheaper

costs, america is back in business making things. that is what built the of middle-class in this country. we will never be a great middle class without making things again. [applause] governor, i spent some time on your website looking at how you would eradicate poverty. what you said is family would be the building block of poverty eradication? governor huckabee: i think people think that if we had different government programs, it would do it. this is the simplest way to do it. a child born into a family were both mother and father have high school education and are gainfully employed, and remain together in a monogamous marriage and our partners for 88%e -- the three things -- chance that they will not spend a day in poverty. on the other hand, if a

child grows up in a single-parent family where one no collegeent has reverse isthey wi dramatic. some of us say that marriage matters, stable marriages and families matter -- it sounds like we are coming at it from trying to tell people how to live. it is an economic issue. you want to eliminate poverty? weekend eliminate most of it by instilling in people that it is a virtue. it is based on what this country was founded on. .ome things are right, virtuous we should uphold them. we live in a culture where we uphold now that a person does not need marriage to have a child, that fathers are incidental to a strong growing

up. we have to be honest. whether it is politically incorrect or not, we need to say, that is crazy. children need mothers and fathers. they need stability. they need homes. that will do more to get them out of poverty than anything. [applause] the reason we speak about family and marriage is because that is a beautiful support for that person, to teach them, to connect them, and equip them with the skills that when they grow up they have the tools to succeed. that is missing in so many parts. this is not something that just hits people of different income groups -- whether it is heroin, is breakingol, it families. you have this deep history as a pastor, a man of faith, and in so many ways, there is this belief and notion that government needs to occupy the

space in society that is between ourselves and government which is really where community and .aith ought to occupy we are losing that. we are losing the systems especially for people that may suffering from a problem. give me a sense of how you think faith plays into this and how we this arrogant idea that crowd themneeds to out. in a sense where a person does not have a family, how to be get them connected with the person,

and how does faith play a role? part of thekabee: reason i got into politics was because i wanted to take the values and insights that i learned from the experience into political arena. i did not leave my faith behind. i brought it with me. i never exchange the capitol dome for the steeple. we have made the huge mistake in this country of thinking that we should somehow create this huge separation between faith and government. the truth is we cannot function divorcedety when we the sense of our fundamental judeo-christian values as the foundation of our society for this reason. we can't. [applause] governor huckabee: we were designed, as a country, because our founders understood that the

best government we will ever have is not the government that we elect, it is self-government. it is when we govern ourselves to do what is right. when we don't hit people, like e to people. but we do that, we don't need a lot of government over us managing our behavior. i always said to the small government folks -- and i am one haveem -- the best way to a small government is to have bigger hearted people who govern themselves. the more people who are self-contained, moral, virtuous people, following their faith -- i know that if you don't catch me doing something and the president doesn't catch me do something, he still does. -- -- it you can do to mee

am concerned about his evaluation. here is the point. let's quit apologizing for being a country in which we have to be people that understand our basic self-centered nature. the bible would call that the sin nature. let's quit apologizing. if founders understood that there was just one branch of government, it would get too big, corrupt, and run over people. they created three branches and two.ould oversee the other it is a brilliant system. it was designed on this notion that we cannot be left to ourselves. we have to ultimately answer to each other, accountability, and ultimately, god. that is not something we should be ashamed of. that is who we are. aretor scott: governor, we

very quickly running out of time. we have about four minutes left. you started off in sales and advertising, you became a pastor . my mother wanted a pastor, but she got a politician. you finished being a governor. as governor, you did some radical things on sentencing reform. k talk about the policies at the state level that would set captives free. governor huckabee: helping people understand the education ticket tocal avoiding poverty. family matters. make it harder to get a divorce, not easier. a is easier to get out of contract for a used car in most states than it is to get out of the marriage. the me put it this way. it is easier to get out of marriage than it is to get out of the contract for a used car.

make it a little tougher to get in and of and even tougher to get out. we lock up a lot of people that we are mad at, rather than people be our afraid of. there are people that need to be locked up -- we are afraid of them, they are dangerous. there are people that we lock up is aeconomically, it disaster. for five dollars-six dollars per day, you could keep them in community-based assistance. in our prison system in arkansas, 80% of inmates were there because of a drug or alcohol issue. they were drunk or high when take committed the crime, or they committed the crime to get

drunk or high. we have to focus on the treatment of people who have addictions, and treat them as people with addictions rather than treat them as people with criminal behavior. the criminal behavior is subsequent to the addiction. speaker ryan: this is an issue that is coming full circle. conservatives of faith have seen how the power of redemption is so beautiful and important. the state and federal level have way overcompensated. this is an area where i think that there is a federal government over criminalizing things, and state laws have shown there is a way forward, that there is reform that works. this is an area where i think we can make a big difference and on a redemption -- honor

redemption. i know ourckabee: time is almost gone, but let me respond to that by saying, the best way to do that is turn it loose at the state level and let them be the laboratories of democracy that they were intended to be. obamacare is a failure because it was a 50 state experiment. all states are not the same. if we make a 50 state mistake, the whole country is messed up. governors take some test them.oad if it doesn't work, you have not messed the whole country up in the process. the best way to do that is not punish programs that are faith-based -- whether in the prisons or poverty system. way to let these

programs work if you deny people of faith from participating from of faith-based perspective. government can give you a sandwich, but cannot give you a hug. quite frankly, what people need is the affirmation that as a human being they have worth and value, they are not expose expendable and disposable. [applause] speaker ryan: what a beautiful sentiment to end on. ladies and gentlemen, governor huckabee. governor huckabee: i appreciate it. picture?yan: a quick governor huckabee: i get to be the sandwich.is and mu [applause]

senator scott: we are two thirds of the way through -- actually, about halfway. we have two panels you have a 15 minute break, and then we are thrilled to have governor haley welcome you and us to her state. we are looking forward to hearing from her, and then senator lindsey graham before have timepanel p you to get a cup of coffee and enjoy the fellowship of one another. thank you so much. [applause]

>> the kemp foundation form taking another break in columbia, south carolina. another panel discussion coming up. we will have remarks from south carolina governor nikki haley and senator lindsey graham, who has dropped out of the race for the republican nomination. then, we will hear from two more republican candidates. john kasich and marco rubio. there will be a lunch break.

we will take your phone calls that to get your thoughts on what you have seen today and learned about the republican presidential field. then, a panel discussion this afternoon will wrap up our coverage here in columbia, south carolina. a couple of other road to the white house events that we are covering this weekend. later on today, donald trump will be in clear lake, iowa. this is the second of two rallies that doll trouble be holding today in that state. 5:00 eastern time, he will be in clear lake. t live for youhat life are y on c-span. hillary clinton, tomorrow, will receive the endorsement of planned parenthood. it is the first time ever that it offers its endorsement in a presidential primary. our live coverage from manchester, new hampshire begins at 4:00 eastern on sunday here on c-span.

again, we are in a break from the kemp foundation form. our live coverage continues in a moment. be will hear from john kasich and marco rubio, and others. the south carolina primary is scheduled for february 20. as we wait for this event to continue, we will get a look at the primary process in south carolina and states like iowa and new hampshire. >> with the presidential candidates in new hampshire, south carolina, and iowa this weekend, what is the state of the race where the first votes will be counted in south carolina? we are joined with the editor of the political caucus. thank you for joining us. as you look at the real clear politics survey, hillary clinton is leading in iowa, also leading ted cruz for his side of the aisle.

could things change? speaker ryan: things could certainly change. those polls were conducted over the holidays -- before the holidays. voters are traveling for the holidays, worried about getting their christmas shopping done. pollsters take a break. we will see, in the next week, a both of new polls come out nationally, and in south carolina as well. one thing i would stress is those numbers are all old. they are from december. the other thing is things do change. candidates are working hard to make things change. s nie sanders is not ceding iowa to hillary clinton. these candidates can still be challenged.

a ee weeks is enough to mount a credible challenge. senator scott: what has the past told us about what could potentially happen? guest: things change up until the last minute. if you look back four years ago with rick santorum, who basically came out of nowhere in the final month of the campaign to win the iowa caucus, he, in hole conducted one week before the caucus -- you could tell, he was gaining not only relative to his previous position, but day, rickic santorum was gaining momentum. you can see, day by day, gaining

strength. the key to winning in iowa, in gaining at the end. that is what it will come down to. the latebreaking momentum that will be in the last half a january, as we move through the next three weeks. sake, let'sgument assume that ted cruz and donald trump come in first and second respectively. it seems to me that the third-place finisher is the one person, the one candidate, who will get a lot of attention. guest: that is true. threeiche is you get tickets out of iowa and new hampshire. the third person will be really interesting. i think the pressure, in a big way, is on marco rubio to be that person. in new hampshire, iowa, and nevada, he is making a big push

temperature a himself as the compromised candidate between establishment republicans and conservative republicans. he does not assert have a clear path to third-place. ben carson, you will recall was hasing in nevada and still a healthy share of the vote there. he has a pretty committed base onsupporters, based political insiders that we talked to on the ground. he could finish in third place p chris christie. that is named that you have not heard in iowa, you have heard of but in new hampshire. even though he is at 2% in the average of iowa polls, are insiders say that he is mounting a little bit of a challenge in iowa. jeb bush has been some time there. right now he is in the conversation below cruz and

trump with carson, rubio, toistie, and maybe rand paul try to do well in iowa. who finishes third, fourth, fifth -- in a lot of ways, it is just as important as who wins. host: let me ask you, on the democratic side of the aisle, there are three candidates. former governor martin o'malley, is he in any way making any inroads in iowa? guest: it is interesting because the first metric we will guest on o'malley in 2006 table come out of iowa. late this week, nbc news announced the criteria for the next democratic debate which will actually be in south carolina on generate 17th january 17. they have set a threshold of 5%.

martin o'malley is not at 5% nationally. .e is at 5% in iowa there will be a couple more polls to come out next week to determine whether or not he gets in the debate. we talked about momentum of little bit. any possibles surge of momentum like the public embarrassment of being excluded from a three person debate. if martin o'malley cannot get some good pulls out of iowa next firstwhich will measure of all his current viability in iowa, that may stop any momentum before it starts for him in iowa, leading up to the caucus. host: this is the headline at members.com -- caucus cautioned that things could

change. stephen shepard joining us in washington. his work available online at politico.com. x for being with us. -- thanks for being with us. >> the south carolina primary is scheduled for february 20. we are live today in south carolina for the kemp foundation form. a number of republican presidential candidates have artie spoken today. a couple more to go. marcoasich and mar rubio will be on a panel coming up in about 15 minutes or so. we will also hear shortly from governor nikki haley and lindsey ofham, who dropped out the presidential race. at lunchtime, we will take your phone calls to get your thoughts on what you have seen so far from the republican field. remember, you can also treat us .ith your comments, @cspanwj

donald trump is not participate today. we will cover him later on today in iowa. he will hold a rally in clear lake, iowa. tomorrow, on the democratic side, we will be with hillary clinton in new hampshire to receive the endorsement of planned parenthood. hillary clinton along with the planned parenthood president will be speaking. our coverage from manchester, on hampshire at 4:00 here c-span. we wait for the kemp foundation forum tocontinue -- continue. i wrote to the white house coverage -- arbor road to the our road to the white house coverage continues on c-span.

>> again, we are live from columbia, south carolina at the kemp foundation form. a number of republican presence of candidates begin today. still the come, in a few

moments, governor nikki haley and senator lindsey graham of south carolina will be speaking. lindsey graham having dropped out of the presidential race. two more presidential candidates to go. we will hear from governor john kasich and florida senator marco rubio. we will also take your phone calls during the lunch break and take some of your tweets as well. .ou can tweet us at @cspanwj there will be a panel discussion after lunch. that will wrap up this event. later on today, doll trouble be in iowa. lake atbe at clear 5:00. we will be with hillary clinton tomorrow in new hampshire when she will receive the endorsement from plans parenthood -- planned parenthood. road to the white house coverage continues live on c-span.

>> ladies and gentlemen, please -- turn yourr seat attention to the screens. >> it is real. >> you have what you have now. a whole cell poverty industry that does not change the bottom line. the people that they serve. makes us have to constantly come back from things. this movement is about coming back from the places where most folks have been left to die. >> what we have today is a need for a shift in our approach to policy, but the shift will not

happen until the larger community sees what works and what doesn't. it is not about building stars or celebrity's, but it is about telling a story. you have so me people who realize that god is not finished, they are not finished, life is still achievable through the hardest circumstances ever. >> i live a hard life in chicago. >> i have had more guns in my face than i care to remember. >> so many times, the experts are seen as the people with the degrees, when the experts are really the people who have come back. >> we are amped up. >> the only way we will take back our community is -- >> we are going to come out of this together. >> this is real. this is so authentic. a microphone to

people in omaha, they will talk about solutions. >> when you do it, give it your all. if you don't give it your all, you don't know how far you will go. today, i still give it my all. i want to see how far i will go. >> quitting is not an option. we cannot quit. we have to do this. >> please welcome back to the emp.e, jimmy k [applause] quit.mp: we cannot we now have somebody who has not quit, and will not quit like the others who have been up on the stage. , and believe it to be true, it is a good day in south carolina. it is a good day in south carolina because y'all have a governor who, when situations

hit, she knows how to lead. when the emmanuel church happened, she knew what to say, she proved that she cared. it is an honor for us to welcome to the stage your governor, nikki stage, your governor, nikki haley. [applause] gov. haley: thank you, very much. you. it is a great day in south carolina. we are so excited to have the camp foundation, -- the kemp town nation, jimmy, and everything his dad to carry on -- dad did to carry on. republicans have always thought

about poverty, but they haven't always said it. we want to talk about these things. i wanted to come out to welcome you and thank you for being here. kemp foundation for doing this in south carolina, we think it is important. a couple of shout outs, speaker ryan said that when he took his leadership role things were going to change. they repealed obamacare, was that not fantastic? then you have senator scott, who has been a fighter in everything we are doing. the one thing he has partnered with me and i'm glad he is doing , he is fighting about guantanamo bay. we need him to keep fighting for us on that front. let me talk to you about what we have done in south carolina. when you talk about issues of

poverty, you talk about people you do not always see, you do not always hear. we saw the situation with education. we know if you improve education, you lift up all things. so, we had the situation in education we never seemed to get past where we wanted to go. we took a year and studied it. in a small town. we did not know what we did not have. my daughter goes to the big river bluff high school on lexington, where every classroom nas a smart board, a flatscree tv, every child has a tablet. when i went back to my hometown, they did not have the equipment to play videos on. that is it immoral and wrong. we got together with their

general assembly, said we were going to make a change. we acknowledged for the fact for cost moretime that it to educate a child in poverty. we put reading coaches in every school, technology and every school, and to said we are no longer to educate children based on where they were born and raised -- we were going to educate every child because they deserve and education. [applause] we doubled down on reading coaches, continued with technology, internet inside this goals, making sure the children have tablets, now we are saying areasal poverty-stricken we need good teachers to stay. we will fund a program where everyone that gets a teaching degree, if you promise to teach 8 years wearea for

will pay for your education. [applause] the beautiful part of all of this, we are doing it without raising taxes. [applause] we did was say we have to make education a priority in south carolina, that we care about these kids. it isn't what you say, it is what you do. we are doing that on education. we saw an opportunity that when people lose their jobs, ask for unemployment, sign-up for welfare -- we were missing an opportunity. when we have someone come for a job, they do not just fill out paperwork to get welfare -- they are in an interview. we asked them, what is your skill set? we match them with businesses. people taken over 25,000

off of welfare and put them to work. [applause] what this comes down to is opportunity. not one parent, rich or poor, that does not want their child to have a good education. there is not one person, rich or poor, that does not want to be a to society. member everyone wants a better life, and better life for their children. up with theome opportunities. when you have opportunities, you have solutions. when you have solutions, that is when you lift people up. this is talking about opportunities and solutions. talk aboutnue to them and follow-up by acting on them, we will make every day better in south carolina than the day before. that across the

country. thank you for taking the time to be here. thank you to all of the presidential candidates who have to be in many states at the same time. thank them were a strong stance looking at poverty. one who is no longer a presidential candidate, but a dear friend. senator lindsey graham made us proud in south carolina by the way he talked about foreign policy. [applause] i have watched senator graham every time i have needed him, whether it was fighting unions, obamacare, guantanamo bay -- in any situation -- the flood -- all are had to do was pick up the phone and senator graham was there. moment was his fight on foreign policy as a candidate for president. while he is not in the running, that is a conversation that will graham,cause of lindsey

because you brought up conversations we hadn't talked about. let me give a warm thank you to our senior senator, senator lindsey graham. [applause] thank you.: i finally made it on the big stage. [laughter] have 4 news for you is i hours of unused time. the governor will give the republican response to president obama from the south carolina point of view. we are proud of our governor. how many of you are from out of state. do you want to help poverty? spend money while you are here. 7% sales tax.

quickly, thank you for coming to columbia to all of the people who sponsored this, thank you. to the people that believe in early childhood education, count me down. i want to do a lot of things in helping people improve their life. if we do not get out of debt, we could do none of those things, right? right. how do you get out of debt? to do isnt this group to not only focus on how to increase the ability of average americans to get out of poverty, but to make sure we do not become greedy. put one thing on your portfolio, urge congress to do something like simpson bowles. we do not get our fiscal house in order, we could not do the good things you want to do. the baby boomer generation, of which i am one, anyone from 1946

to 1964? born after 1964? good luck. , if not thisto see year, soon -- a coming together of the republican and democratic parties to come together to save medicare and social security from bankruptcy, flatten the tax code, and put money on debt. younger people, you will have to work longer. in my income level, you will have to take less and pay more, sorry about that. you have to do what you have to do. if i'm going to ask a man or go overseas to fight radical islam, i will last people here to sacrifice, too. the sacrifices are small. the sooner we do it, the smaller they will be, and the quicker we can get on with saving our

country. poverty, the cure is a job. get a job that pays more than the poverty rate. how do you create a job? someone has to create one. most people have to borrow money job, not everybody. the republican and democratic parties have failed in this. we are not where we need to be. the war on poverty declared by lyndon johnson is still going on . are we winning or losing? can we do better? you think the republican party can help? can we spend money to invest in education that may not be traditional republican orthodox? helpu think democrats can create jobs better than they are doing? i would like my party to be more like jack kemp. [applause] that i can as a

senator in 2017 -- no matter who once the white house, and i hope it is a republican, will have a chance to start over and focus on this issue in a way we have not. , are you here? thank you, ma'am, to you and your family. [applause] where did the party of jack go? is it still out there? i think so. i hope the party of jack kemp will come back with a vengeance. [applause] not worth its salt if they cannot help people. i do believe the only way you will get out of debt, the only war on will end of the poverty, is for both parties to work together. i don't know how to do either without bipartisanship.

scott is the new for the republican party, i hope. i want to thank him for taking the leadership role. he plays football, too. i did not. .aul ryan gets it .e is a disciple of jack kemp we have a moment as republicans to build on what paul and tim are trying to do for our party, and everyone wanting to be president for the most part, are here today. that tells you the power of the and the power of the idea of trying to solve a problem. as republicans, we have a problem demographically. we don't do well with lower income americans, because they think the republican party doesn't have their interests at

heart. our democratic friends do well elect tortellini, but both parties are failing. to, as republicans, to convince every american that cares about poverty, that we also care. it is not enough to care. you have to actually do something. here is what i want to leave you with. if it takes me working with a debt,at to get us out of i will do my part. [applause] if it takes me working with a democrat to create an agenda to create jobs that don't exist today, provide education that is lacking -- i will do my part. [applause] we are about to have an election, as you can tell. i hope every candidate wanting

to be the president of the united states will be challenged by you to see if they will do their part. it will be impossible to solve these big problems without presidential leadership. choose wisely. welcome to south carolina. [applause] >> everybody -- [applause] >> this has been a fantastic conversation, has it not? a great audience. >> they are all green bay packer

fans, i can assure you. >> all the people who know with the green bay packers play football, raise your hand. how many carolina panthers in the house? [cheers] fan, how many cowboys fans? ] booing please join us in welcoming to the stage. [applause] >> we have been having this conversation. what people should get out of

this is that conservatives are bringing their a game to fighting poverty and restoring opportunity. we trying to show if you apply the principles that we know and believe to this seemingly inflexible mantra of a status quo on the war on poverty, we can make breakthroughs. what is exciting is now you have a numeral two parties competing for ideas on how to fix this. restore the american idea that everyone in the country can make it? the root causes to break the cycle of poverty? you have taken a lot of leadership roles. marco, you have been in the senate. john, you have been walking the walk. deeply about this. i've served on the budget

committee when john kasich was the chair, i used to work for john kasich. what have you done in ohio that has made a difference? how do we translate that? gov. kasich: we are up 385,000 jobs. that helps. the other message is what jack always talked about. i used to serve with jack, and had a great time with him -- you have to have an attitude that everyone should have the opportunity to rise. reform, we give judges more discretion based on what a person did. banning the box -- speaker ryan: explain the box. felon,sich: a nonviolent there is a box that asks you if you are a felon, you check it,

we say thank you, and throw your application in the trash. now there is sanctions where if you have been rehabilitated, we can get you a job in professions where you're to currently able get one. we want minorities to develop entrepreneurship to rise. example, in cleveland we are building a road from downtown cleveland to the cleveland clinic. we have invited the minority community to participate in the building of the road. that they have a say in where it goes so they aren't locked off. they are thrilled. we reformed public schools in cleveland with an african-american mayor, and a whole committee, the schools are working better. there are many more programs we are doing to rehab people on

drugs. we have a program in prisons where we have moved our addiction services into the prisons, and released those folks into the immunity where they are supervised. the recidivism rate is less than 20%. the recidivism rate in the prisons is half the national average. we give people an opportunity to work their way out. if they are again banger -- if they are a gang banger and create problems in prison, we will throw away the key. those in their 50's that lose their jobs, they are in the shadows. if you are a dropout, we will carve an education path for you where you will get a high school diploma. in the schools, we educate people for jobs that exist, not in a vacuum.

the developmentally disabled, we are integrating them into the workforce. getting them out of the shelter pharmacy,kshop, grocery, walmart, where they can perform and feel their life has meaning. the parents love this. the list goes on. it is an attitude of economic growth. when you are growing, everyone has to feel as though they have a chance to rise. a rising tide lifts small boats. welfarel reform -- reform -- you have more caseworkers than a hospital. we have narrowed the caseworker to 1. invited businesses into the welfare office so when you get aid we will train you for jobs that exist. the man or woman with the job is next to you. it is an opportunity to help people to go. we follow the motto of my mother

. it is a sin not to help those who need help, but also a sin not to continue to help those who need to learned to help themselves. that is the motto that we follow. >> marco, you have a tremendous life story. sometimes people believe that we as republicans do not know for people. when i go home and see my family, i walk into a neighborhood mired in poverty. when i see my grandfather every week, what i year are not requests for government assistance -- it is a leg up. more training or education. in powering individual seems to be the solution here is your experience? why it is sohat is good the republican party has candidates like john kasich whose father was a mailman, my father was a are tender, who

works for a living and struggle to provide for their families, running for president. this is important. let me say that john kasich described things they are doing in the state. one thing i hope we do is to find the ways that we spent money on the governor and turn it over to john kasich. i think -- speaker ryan: you have a flex fund program. one thing that you did was to propose getting people back to the state. so we can have what you call flex funds. that is somewhat to the grant we made proposals for. tell us how the flex fund works. sen. rubio: it takes federal anti-poverty money and turns it

to local communities. innovation will not come from the federal government. only at the state and local level are you getting the kind of innovations that we see described in ohio and other states across the country. >> when he went to college in the 1970's, it is always good for a protest every now and then. [applause] i thought about handling them the way another candidate does, but i thought -- [applause] gov. kasich: i do want to take booingut i saw crowds this woman who is being escorted . that is not the spirit of jack kemp. we can tolerate differences and respect people.

this is nonsense. that is not the republican party. i'm sorry. sen. rubio: no, thank you. gov. kasich: back to margo. -- marco. reason i lovee free enterprise is because it is a only economic model in the history of the world where you can make poor people richer without making rich people poorer, allowing everyone to move ahead. in a free enterprise economy, if there is poverty it is because there has been an impediment. we've faced a lot of those in the 21st century. the flex fund is designed to eliminate that. if you are a child born into a broken family, and unstable home, a dangerous neighborhood, a failing school and your community, the people on the street corners are not good role models come you have strikes against you.

unless something happens to shake that dynamic, statistics say you will struggle. we need to focus on breaking that model. you'll will not get this in the federal government. the federal government cannot and a innovative programs one size all approach that fits the entire country. willre about poverty so we make funds available to those who know how to make a difference at the state and local level. the difference depends on where you are in life. we have the problems i described, nontraditional students, job training -- take for example the single mother making $10 an hour as a receptionist raising 2 kids on her own. the only way she will get a -- i'm going to keep talking. they only way she will get a raise is if she goes back to school and get a degree that

pays more than what she is making now. the impediment is that school is too expensive, or school is during the day while she has to work. gov. kasich: i'm kind of used to this. foright be jarring the audience -- what is the proper role of the federal government? respect individuals, civil local government, providing resources? when we talk about block grants, we talk with senator is about getting resources in the communities and loosening the strings. that does not mean we care less, we don't have ideas -- it means we are trying to liberate people who are there fighting poverty i o-eye, eye-t

person-to-person. resources but control, no? we want to have economic policies allowing the american economy to be the most competitive. the other is that we are focusing on eradicating poverty. we treat the symptoms and pain of poverty, but we do not hear poverty with federal programs. the goal is to ensure those funds are given to the entities at the state and local level that will cure poverty by empowering people to turn their lives around and get skills for jobs that a dynamic american economy is creating for them. gov. kasich: i was involved in writing the first welfare reform bill in congress. i'm now on welfare reform. are peopleize there on government assistance i can't take a pay raise because they will lose more than what they

gain? take a woman offered a pay raise. we are raising our threshold to , soad percent of poverty when she makes more money she doesn't lose childcare. we need a system that allows people to work their way off. under the work requirement, most don't know if you're in general leaf you have to work 30 hours a week if you are able-bodied, we want to put an education opportunity in there. if you can be trained. we have to ask washington for permission. to me, that is absurd. i would shift welfare to the states with guardrails. i would like to ship withaid to the states guardrails. with flexibility and fewer rules, you can take it along way. in the old days when we balanced

budgets, we had another program in the federal government that i think works. it into ohiout called the earned income tax credit. so people at the bottom can have an incentive to earn more, because they have a higher marginal rate than people at the top. we have to make sure we have incentives for people to rise, and not put them in positions where they go to work and lose more than they gain. giving the states more flexibility, and having a leader to share with people around the country those efforts that are people to get opportunities and lift them out of poverty. speaker ryan: the highest isn'tal tax rate, it warren buffett or aaron rodgers, it is the single mom taking $28,000 losing $.80 on the dollar if she takes a step forward. which is a huge disincentive to

work. why would you take the risk? that is why washington shouldn't ask the rules. if those people have no clue. i'm the governor of ohio. they don't even know what time zone i live in. y program, let me run it. it.ink we are all for sen. scott: one of the major impediments to seeing the eradication of poverty is the tax code. it is called the getty, challenging -- complicated, challenging. i'm a true believer that you need more entrepreneurs if we want to truly eradicate poverty. how do we get that? sen. rubio: first of all, make the tax code simpler.

you are paying on your personal ray, which could be substantially higher than paying.orporation is we should have a flat rate. we have to allow businesses -- we are going to work for immigration laws, guys. [applause] speaker ryan: you were on a roll, keep going. sen. rubio: the second thing is we have to allow business to

fully invest in the business. a big business can afford to write that off over a number of years, a smaller business, the ability to fully write that office critical for their survival and to move forward. [shouting] sen. rubio: on the personal side what i have called for is encouragement for people to go back to work. it allows hard-working families to keep more of what they earn. right now, raising a family in the 21st century is incredibly expensive. i think the most important job anyone will ever have is the job of a parent. i want the tax code to reflect that. [applause]

gov. kasich: i think, first of all, if there any more protesters, we got the point. if you keep disrupting, you will just turn people against you. we heard it. [applause] gov. kasich: i think there are a couple of other things. job creation is based on certainty. if you have a rickety financial system, businesses say, what will happen to me? if you have taxes going up, businesses are saying, wait a minute, what will that mean for me? here is another element, regulation. regulation is what kills a small business. b are in danger because -- we are in danger because of dodd frank. everybody loved the show, "cheers," because everyone knew our name. that is what you want with the bank.

when we over regulate, we snuff out entrepreneurship. these businesses are like a gentle orchid, if you stomp on them, you killed opportunity of a job. small businesses are heroes because they provide jobs for our families. we need to freeze federal congress should be voting on this stuff. i don't understand how the bureaucracy continues. you have to knock it down. speaker ryan: we have found a way, teaming up with the house and senate -- they have this goofy roll call the filibuster over there. we have found away with congressional review to get around the filibuster, so we , we have an epa vote other votes coming out. we will put them on the president's desk, and show him where we stand on these regulations. [applause] gov. kasich: regulation is

critical. we don't tax any small business on income tax in ohio. we have nurture our small businesses. marco is right on lowering the corporate rate and the personal rate. i like 28.it at 28, i think that makes sense. the other element is fiscal control. if you do not have a rocksolid fiscal policy, businesses are like, i'm not investing. you need all three. regulatory tax, and fiscal policy that makes sense. that is what will allow investors to say, ok, i will create another job, or start of business. those are the three things i think are critical. speaker ryan: let's get into a personal, human level for once more. from this very important macro level. people facing poverty. it is not a one-size-fits-all problems that. ,ental miss, drug addiction

these are two of the major problems that people from all backgrounds, from all walks of life are experiencing which become an enormous barrier to upward mobility. this is something you worked on as governor. tell us what you did and what we should do on the specific issues of mental illness and drug addiction? do it fairly quickly. gov. kasich: i will. you don't have to do it in 30 seconds. look, on mental illness, we promised the mentaly that they would have support -- mentally ill that they would have support on the local level, and we did not do it. but we are now doing is we have the resources at the community level, and our state is working on this issue and giving people treatment, and also helping them to not going to prison to begin with. with a drug addicted, we have been working on it for six years. we have programs making sure we

are able to monitor the amount of prescriptions being delivered from prescribers. we can trace it through our pharmacy board. we have rehab programs. as i mentioned earlier, getting people out of prisons of turning them over, there we have a situation with less than it 20% -- a 20% recidivism rate. it makes more sense to give them health care where we are not giving them health care in the emergency room where we are paying for it at a higher price. we give them an opportunity to have health care. the working poor and the drug addicted and the mentally ill are issues -- these are people who live in the shadows. i absolutely think, as jack kemp did, when we rise, everybody has to have a shot. that opens everyone's heart, and communicates a message that we numbers, we about

are about people. [applause] sen. scott: part of the part of the-- foundation of success in the country is making sure that kids have access to quality education. we have had many conversations about how we get there. there is no doubt that the larger the role of the federal government, the fewer opportunities for kids in america. how do we reverse that? sen. rubio: i strongly believe that the k-12 education system belongs in the hands of the states and communities. we do not need a national school board. [applause] sen. rubio: second, i would say this one of the greatest injustices in america today that the only people who cannot choose for their kids go to school are the poor people. rich people pay for their kids to go to school.

poor people are often condemned for their kids to go to schools that are failing. you have done work on this. one of the things that i want to see and do is create the equivalent of what we have in florida called the corporate scholarship program where in lieu of danger tax liability to this -- of thinker tax liability to the government, you can donate it to a scholarship organization so that parents can have a better choice. [applause] sen. scott: it is important to think about the fact that we have a lot of people today going through the k-12 education system that want to go to college. want the dual track working and merely.

and south carolina, we have had a lot of success with the apprentice of -- apprenticeship program. south carolina is a state where alive and is well. bmw, mercedes-benz. there is a real economy for the middle skilled workers. sen. rubio: i don't know why we became a country that started telling people trade are for people who don't want to go to college. trade schools are for people who want to make $50,000 a year. there are a lot of school district are a great job providing that. then, there are some who did not have that. i think, if you are a student and have decided, i want to be a welder, a car technician, an airplane mechanic, and there's no open for you to do that, i want us to open a