have more early childhood education because that will help us get more kids ready to succeed by the time they get to kindergarten or first grade. we are going to make college affordable. we are going to lower the cost. we are going to make it possible to go to college, debt free when it comes to your tuition. you will not have to our own money to attend college, a college like this that has such a storied history. i have a fund for historically black colleges and universities, public and private. [applause] because i know, i know how important they have been to educate so many leaders, so many professionals across the years. that they have been operating. we are going to do more to make sure that they keep educating young people, now and far into the future. [applause]

i also want to tackle the problem of student debt. if you have student debt, we will refinance your debt and get the cost down. we will give you a chance to pay it as a percentage of your income and we are going to be sure that you get to pay it off at a certain time so we don't have young people burdened by debt. they will be able to get on with their lives the way many of us did when we had student debt. [applause] there are a lot of issues that we have to worry about. i want you to know that i have taken a stand against the privatization of social security. we are going to extend the social security trust fund.

i need you to stand with me because republicans still do want to privatize it. they say that out loud and in public. we have got to defend social security. we also have to make sure that we do everything we can to protect and defend voting rights, voting rights are under attack across america. we have got to stand against efforts at the state level to suppress the votes and restrict the votes. we have to go after citizens united, a terrible supreme court decision that opened the door to secrets, unaccountable money, and we will get supreme court justices appointed starting with president obama who is following through on his constitutional responsibility to nominate someone for the supreme court. [applause] and now, the senate needs to do is constitutional responsibility and consider that nomination. but if we cannot get that decision reversed, i will lead a constitutional amendment because we have got to stop the secret, unaccountable money that so many

people are watching as it corrupts our political system. it is also important that we reformed our criminal justice system. that we reformed our incarceration system. i have laid out very specific plans to do that and this is an area that i hope is bipartisan. i was with my friend senator booker yesterday in florence. he is one of the leaders in the senate working with republicans to make the changes that we need. it is also imperative that we protect the gains that have been made, not only for women, because believe me, they want to turn the clock back on us also. i also want to end discrimination against the lgbt community. they deserve to have their rights and have their lives respected as well. we have work to do, my friends and it is important work.

work that i cannot do alone. it would not be possible to do it alone. we need to do it together. that is why i am asking for your support in the primary tomorrow. i hope you will turn out and vote. i hope you will stand with me. [applause] because at the end of the day, it is important to get the nomination. i am doing everything i can to earn it but then we have got to turn around and win the election in november. i know that conventional wisdom is that south carolina is pretty much in the republican column these days that i want you to know, working with leaders like

congressman clyburn and others in your state, in the state senate and house and at the county and local level, i want to help support the democratic party in this state so we can be competitive in south carolina again in the future. there are so many issues that matter to south carolinians that are not going to be addressed by the other party. this great institution deserves a lot more help from the state legislature than it receives. what is the best way of getting that done? elect people who can fight for you and get the numbers up in the state legislature to make that case. i want to end by saying this. every day i am out here campaigning and making the case that i think is important for our country, i really remember

how blessed i am. my grandfather was a factory worker, my father was a small businessman. my mother was out on her own at the age of 14 working as a maid. every one of us has a story to tell. if we had the time, we could hear from every one of us. we have got to make sure that our country lives up to its promise. i want to break every barrier that stands in the way of any of american of getting a head and staying ahead. i know america cannot live up to its potential unless every person in our country has a chance to live up to his or hers. i hope you will join me and that you will be part of this effort to build on the progress we have made under president obama to go further and to make it absolutely clear that we are fighting to break down barriers wherever they may be because we

know america deserves nothing less and americans deserve to have the future that we will create together. thank you all, very much. ♪ [applause] ♪

>> senator bernie sanders was also in orangeburg, south carolina on friday. his stop at the university includes introductory remarks from killer mike. this is 50 minutes. [cheering]

killer mike: hello. hello. hello. you really judge a person by how they treat people when they do not have to treat them well and when it is in their best interest not to treat them well. i am going to repeat that. you should judge people by how they treat people. but people who they do not have to treat well. or people that they could benefit from treating bad. bernie sanders is a white man in america. he does not have to care about anyone in this room, but himself. bernie sanders is a fantastic person in america. he can say that he worries about me.

as a teenager and a young adult, he has fought for the rights of people who do not look like him, who are not from where he is from and who are not from his socioeconomic background. he stood on his integrity and his convictions and depended on americans to be intelligent enough. he did not take the opportunity to separate himself. i respect that more than a grand introduction for a politician because that means when you are in office and have a hard decision to make, you will think about the people you talked to at these rallies. as president, he will think about women's rights before his own. as president bernie sanders will say publicly, police have no right to murder your children in the streets. as president, bernie sanders will make sure that people who work the least of the jobs among us will receive fair wages so

they can be part of the economic climate that we enjoy in america. he will unify people based on our differences and not use them to separate. for the first time in my life, i am for the first time in my life, seeing what civil rights promised my grandmother. an opportunity to have someone that does not look like he, have empathy for me, but be willing to make policy that makes it fair even if it puts them at a regular person's level with me. i am looking for the first time in my life at a politician who despite popular demand says he will stand with someone on an unpopular thing because people deserve free health care, free education, and people deserve to be treated as well as any white and in america. for the first time in my life, i am seeing a politician call for true equality by way of policy

and not asking me to wait. for the first time in my life, and i am going to leave and introduce this guy soon but when you have an opportunity to tell two black girls to shut up and get off stage and you don't. and you shake their hand and you smile and you step to the side and you listen. that is a big difference in turning around and saying to a little black girl, shut up. i will talk to you later. i am going to tell you that the proof is in the pudding every time. protest and segregation. i know 51 years later you are willing soldier on, hold your head and listened to two black girls yell and scream as opposed to someone who will tell you to shut up.

as opposed to someone who will tell you -- later. when it comes to your children dying in the streets. i know that the only person that i have the conscience to vote for is bernard sanders. i know that the only person that my logical, beautiful lack mind will allow me to vote for is senator bernie sanders. i want to tell the other side. i know from going around and shaking hands and hugging these beautiful black faces in south carolina, that firewall has a crack in it. i want to introduce you to the next president of the united states. [applause] [cheering]

[chanting] sen. sanders: thank you all, very much. thank you very much for being out here today. let me thank representative bamberg and the senator and killer mike for their calm and quiet introductions. [laughter] i want to just -- with killer mike here, you know killer mike is not a killer. i want to thank you for taking the message of social and racial justice to young

african-americans, young whites, young latinos. that is what you have been doing for years, and i very much appreciate what you have been doing. we came to south carolina from a state far, far away where it gets a little colder than it does here. you may want to visit us in the summertime. when we came here to south carolina, we knew very few people. that is the simple truth. the first polls out there had us at about 5%-7%. in the last nine months, we

have, a long way because of your support. we appreciate it very much. i also want to thank in addition to representative bamberg, and senator turner and killer mike, i want to thank vangelis. dr. cornell west. people know cornell west? he is one of the important intellectuals in our country. representative keith ellison. cochair of the house progressive caucus. you all know danny glover. we have a young danny glover on our campaign. the actor has spent his entire career fighting for social justice. how about harry belafonte? again, an example of someone who is not just an extraordinary singer and actor but he has been involved in the fight for peace and racial and social justice

his whole life. anyone here here the ad that spike lee did for us. he is one of the great, producers in america. i also want to thank representative joe neal for his support as well. let me make this brief. our country today faces very serious problems. that is the truth. does everyone agree? i think and the reason i am running for president is that i believe that it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics and the same old, same old. ok? when we live in a country which is the wealthiest country in the history of the world, but when

african american youth unemployment of high school kids it is 51%. 51%. an african-american child poverty in this country, 35%. when we are living in a country where many of you who are going to college are going to leave school deeply in debt. is that the case? we've got to do something about that. not only do we have to make sure that young people are not suffocated with outrageous level of student debt, we should be making public colleges and universities tuition free. [applause] we should be providing substantial help to historically black colleges and universities who are doing a great job educating young people. what this campaign is about is taking a hard look at national

priorities. when we have 20 of the wealthiest people in this country owning more wealth than the bottom 50% of america. 150 million people. does anyone think that is right? we have republicans that want to give tax breaks to the top 1%. it does not make sense to me. so, this is what i think. i think for a start, that when we have a lot of people in this country working or nine dollars-$10 an hour. does anyone think you can get by on that? do you think we should raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour? ok, let me say a word to the ladies. ladies -- nationally, women earn

$.79 on the dollar compared to men. african-american women earn less than that. who thinks that is right? guys -- are you going to stand with the women and fight for pay equity for women workers? ok ladies, you have some allies. hold them to that. here is the story about unemployment. we have too much unemployment in this country. we need to create millions of good paying jobs. how will we do that? we are going to hire teachers, not fire teachers. [applause] i hope some of you here will give thought to going into teaching because we need great teachers in this country.

others, i hope will give thought to going into childcare work. we need well paid, well-trained childcare workers so that the littlest children in the country get the start in life that they need. let me tell you a story if i might. i was in flint, michigan just the other day. everyone here know what is going on in flint, michigan? you don't know what is going on in flint, michigan because it is worse than you think it is. it is beyond belief worse than you think it is. when you hear what the people of flint are saying as i did you would say -- wait a minute, what country am i living in? am i really living in the united states of america in 2016?

my electrified personality has repaired the microphone. [applause] i want you to imagine this in flint, michigan. we spoke with a mother who has a nine-year-old child. nine-year-old child, a couple of years ago, this kid was doing really well in school, outgoing, vivacious. two years later, because of lead poisoning, that little girl's intellectual development has been significantly diminished. right now, as i understand it, she is in special education. can you imagine the mother, watching this take place to your own baby. and on it goes. people are paying when hundred $200 a month for water

which is poisoning them. you have a school system which is totally inadequate, a health care system that is inadequate. this is taking place in the united states of america. the reason i am running for president is because i am prepared to take on wall street, to take on the big money interests who today are doing so much harm to our country. let me give you an example. question -- someone give me an answer. somebody today in south carolina gets picked up for possessing marijuana. what happens? you may go to jail. and now you have a police record. question number two. you are a wall street executive. whose greed and illegal behavior

helped destroying the american economy, caused millions of people their jobs, their homes, and their life savings. what happens to you? you get a salary increase. you do not get a jail record. that speaks to a broken criminal justice system. you know what i mean by that? this is a broken criminal justice system when a kid gets a police record -- what happens with that? it is hard to get a job. the kid gets a police record but the executive on wall street gets off scott free. by that, after reaching a settlement with the government for $5 billion. when we talk about criminal justice, what about the need for police department reform? what about that? >> black lives matter. sen. sanders: absolutely. why do we have in america --

more people in jail than any other country on earth? we have more people in jail for a number of reasons but one of the reasons, and by the way, as you know, people in jail are disproportionately african-american, latino, and native americans. we have over policing. it turns out that whites and blacks smoke marijuana at about equal rates. that is a fact. blacks are more than four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than whites. do you know what i think about marijuana? it is today part of the federal controlled substance act. it is a federal crime. it is listed right alongside heroin. does that make sense?

we are going to take marijuana out of the federal controlled substance act so it is not a federal crime. state can make it legal or not but it should not be a federal crime. what we are also going to do is the following -- if somebody when they are being arrested, is killed by a police officer or dies while they are in police custody, in every instance, we are going to have a federal department of justice investigation. [applause] and if the police officer, and i am a former mayor and i have worked hard with police officers and most officers are honest, hard-working guys. but if a police officer breaks the law, that officer must be held accountable.

[applause] second of all, we are going to demilitarize local police departments. they should not be like occupying armies. the function of the police department is to serve the people, not to be an oppressive force in the community. they are part of the community. thirdly, we need great, young people are the way to think about getting into law enforcement because we need police departments around this country to look like the diversity of the communities fourth, we are going to do away with minimal sentencing. a lot of people get sentenced for too long because judges do not have the flexibility they

should have. fifth, we are going in this country, and in my state, we have a very serious problem with drugs, with opiates, and with alcohol. what we have got to understand is that substance abuse is a health issue and not a criminal issue. [applause] in other words, people who are addicted and are trapped in drugs or alcohol need health care to get off of that addiction, not to be jailed. does that make sense to people? [cheers] and when people are arrested and go to jail, one of the tragedies in this country is that many of them, when they leave jail, and -- end up act in jail.

they end up back in jail because they do not have the job training, the education that they need to go out and become part of civil society. we have got to make sure -- i will tell you a story. i was in iowa. i talked to a guy. he was arrested and spent time in jail. he wasto him when released he was given a check for 75 bucks. good luck. we have people in that pipeline going in and out. we have too many people going in and out of that pipeline. we are going to make sure that people have the education and the jobs they need when they go back into society so they do not go back into jail. [applause] and by the way. when youth unemployment for high school kids, we have got two choices. we can either build more jails and arrest more people. that is one choice. i think that is a stupid choice.

or else, we can put money into education and jobs. [cheers] it turns out that it costs less money to send a kid to the university of south carolina than it does to send them to jail. i would rather send them to the university of south carolina, or any other college for that matter. what goes on in this country is that we have a corrupt campaign finance system. everybody know what i mean by that? what i mean is that you have one vote which i hope you will exercise on saturday, tomorrow. you have one vote, but there are other people in this country that have one vote but they also have hundreds of millions of dollars to try to buy elections. does that sound like democracy to anybody in this room? that is called oligarchy, ruled by the rich and powerful.

one of the reasons we have it is because of a disastrous supreme court decision on citizens united. together we will overturn citizens united. one person, one vote. i want to tell you something else. i know that i date myself. i am old. i confess. >> we love you! senator sanders: you can love me. i am lovable. back in 1963, a long time ago, i was there for the march on washington with dr. martin luther king. [applause] and all of you know, everyone knows, that what the struggle was about was the voting rights that everybody in america, no matter what the color of your skin in america, has the right to vote. 1965, president johnson signed the voting rights act. a major breakthrough.

a year ago, there was a supreme court decision that undermined a lot of the voting rights act and now you have governors and legislatures all over this country --you know what they are trying to do? they are trying to make it harder for people to vote. for poor people, elderly people, for people of color. i think that is cowardly and i will tell you why. because they are afraid of a free and fair election. they don't want people who might vote against them to participate in the political process. [cheers] i believe that if someone is running for office or someone is governor, and they don't have the guts to allow a free and fair election, do you know what i think? they should get another job and get out of politics. [cheers] i don't want to see people --have you seen those pictures? people waiting in line for four

hours to vote. we know what that is about. my view is if you are 18 years of age in the united states of america and a citizen of this country, you have a right to vote. end of discussion. [cheers] we will make it easier for people to vote, not harder. one of the differences between secretary clinton and myself, and you will have to make this evaluation and think it through. i do not have a super pac. i do not raise millions of dollars from wall street or powerful special interests. [applause] we raise our money is we have received 4 million individual contributions. that is more than anyone in history at this point in a campaign. do you know what the average contribution is?

$27. secretary clinton has a super pac and receives $15 million from wall street. i think that is wrong. i want to touch on another issue. trade issue. not a sexy issue but important. south carolina devastated by nafta. corporations in this country ask that meanscorporations in this country ask whether -- why would i want to pay a worker in south an hour? 15 or $20 i could shut down the plant and move it to mexico and china and bring my product back into this country. that has devastated the south and devastated states all over this country. we have lost millions of decent paying jobs. it is time for corporations who want us to buy their products to start manufacturing their products here in the united states of america. [cheers] and now another issue. and i know on this issue people

may disagree with me but let me throw it out. all of us know that there are terrible, terrible crimes committed. we see it every day. some lunatic goes out and starts shooting our people and we get angry. we say we want that person executed. i want to tell you something. i am opposed to the death penalty. [cheers] not everyone agrees with me. secretary clinton does not agree with me. i want to tell you why i am opposed to it. number one, if you look at our history, there are a lot of innocent people, often people of color, who were executed and then we found out years later they were not guilty. number two, we have so much ugliness and so much violence in our society. i just don't think that the government should be involved in

that violence and should be killing people. [cheers] and i know people disagree with me. we get angry and we see people do terrible things and we say we want vengeance. but vengeance is not the answer. people do something terrible, lock them up and throw away the key. keep them behind bars. we do not want dangerous people on the streets. but i do not believe that government should be involved in the taking of lives. [applause] last point i want to make. in politics, of which i know a little bit about, it is very easy to get votes by scapegoating minorities. it is easy to do. right now, we seeing it on the republican side. we are seeing donald trump telling us that we are supposed to think that all of the people from mexico came into this country are rapists and drug

dealers. all of you know that that is nonsense and we will not succumb to that type of bigotry. [cheers] also we are also supposed to keep muslims out of this country and that is what it is always about. we play off one group against another. white against black. nativeborn against those that came into this country. we will not do that. i want to talk to about what happened in 1996. there was a bill called the so-called welfare reform bill. and the idea behind this is that poor people were ripped off the welfare system. they make major changes in it. the end result of that legislation was that extreme poverty, the poorest of the poor, children who are hungry, extreme poverty in this country. the rates doubled because of that legislation. i vigorously opposed that

legislation. secretary clinton supported that legislation. that is an important difference between us. let me just end by thanking you all for coming out. i know that a lot of your friends, if you are young people, think you are crazy to go to a political event. am i correct? they are saying get a life. why are you wasting an afternoon by going to bernie sanders events? by the way, who is bernie sanders anyhow? i want to say this very profoundly. i worked in the united states senate. that is my job. i see what goes on there. now, if you do not want to leave school deeply in debt, if you want to get a job that pays you a living wage, if you are a woman and you want to earn equal pay, if you are concerned about climate change and concerned

about our criminal justice system, if you don't vote and your friends do not vote, who do you think is going to pay attention to those issues? do you think that billionaire campaign contributors are going to be worried that women in south carolina are trying to raise their kids on eight dollars an hour? do you think they are staying up nights worrying that we have a broken criminal justice system? they are not. the only people who are going to make the change -- the history of america, whether it is the worker's rights movement, the civil rights movement, the women's movement, begin rights movement, -- they gave rights movement, what is it about? people at the grass roots standing up and demanding change. it is always from the bottom up never the top down.

[cheers] that is what this campaign is about. it is saying that it is wrong in america when so few have so much and so many have so little. that we are the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. we don't have paid family and medical leave. we do not have a minimum wage which is a living wage. there is a lot of work to do. no president can do it alone. we need a political revolution. are you ready to join in that revolution? [cheers] that is what it is about. if we do not allow donald trump and his friends to divide us up, if we stand together, we can do extraordinary things.

think they on what this country can become. i want to thank you all very much. welcome to the political revolution. make sure you vote tomorrow. thank you all very much. [cheers] my wife, the brains of the family. [cheers] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> thank you! ♪ [indistinct chatter]

>> i love you, bernie. yay! [laughter] it is a video. [laughter] love you. >> thank you for everything. we really appreciate it. are you voting tomorrow? >> we already did. >> we came all the way down to meet you. can i get a picture?

i am from india .. i have been following you all these years. >> thank you, senator sanders. >> mr. sanders! >> can i get an autograph? [indistinct crowd noise] >> how are you? can we get a picture? >> here! [laughter] >> bernie!

sen. sanders: really, ok. you all are killing me. sen. sanders: how are you? ♪ >> do you remember me from south carolina state? sen. sanders: how are you?

hello. >> bernie! >> go ahead. >> we drove two hours, bernie. [indistinct crowd noise] sen. sanders: thank you. thank you.

>> can you sign my sign? ♪ >> we are getting there. sen. sanders: hello. >> can you send my poster? >> bernie, can you sign my phone? sen. sanders: i am that in designing phones. into signing phones. thank you.

♪ sen. sanders: thanks a lot for coming. ♪ >> south carolina for bernie! ♪

i get $5.50 an hour. >> [crowd noise] sen. sanders: security issues. how old are you? [laughter] thank you very much.

♪ sen. sanders: ok. are we good? >> come here. get it?ders: thank you so much. [crowd noise] >> thank you for all you do. thanks a lot for coming. >> can i get a picture? sen. sanders: you sure can. >>, goodness.

sen. sanders: you got a phone call. [crowd noise] sen. sanders: that you very much. >> take it easy. i love you, man. sen. sanders: how are you? thank you. one at a time. >> thank you so much. >> we love you. [crowd noise] sen. sanders: are you ok?

get in the picture. [crowd noise] sen. sanders: thank you. autograph your shirt? [laughter] [crowd noise]

>> bernie, bernie! sen. sanders: hello. >> thank you so much for everything. [crowd noise] sen. sanders: got it? who is that? how are you? may i have a picture with you? sen. sanders: sure.

much.you so sen. sanders: how are you? >> can i get a picture? [crowd noise] >> thank you. >> we came from boston for you. sen. sanders: thank you so much. i will be in boston. >> eyesight he speak in

november/ speak in november. sen. sanders: how are you? [crowd noise] >> want to send a primary message to snapchat? sen. sanders: tomorrow is election day in south carolina. everybody come on out to vote. >> we are from japan. how are you dealing with the north korean threat? sen. sanders: how are you? >> i am taking it.

sen. sanders: thank you. [crowd noise] francis does very good things. >> thank you so much, bernie. >> coming through. sen. sanders: thank you all very much. >> did you get your picture? >> thank you very much. [applause] cycle remindsion

us how important it is for citizens to be informed. >> c-span as a home for political junkies and a way to track the government as it happens. >> it's a great way for us to stay informed. >> there are a lot of fans on the hill. my colleagues say i saw you on c-span. >> there is so much more this easement us to make sure people outside the beltway know what is going on inside of it. c-span, washington journal is next. then attorney general loretta lynch testifies in capitol hill about the justice department's 2017 budget request. at new we take you live to nashville, tennessee with ohio governor and republican presidential candidate john kasich. coming up on today's washington journal, green party presidential candidate jill stein talks about the issues central to her campaign. and the challenges she and

other third-party candidates face in the general election. later, conservative blogger erick erickson discusses threats to religious freedom. ♪ host: good saturday morning to you. it is february 27 and we are talking politics. donald trump is solidifying his status as the front runner among republican presidential candidate at the receiving an endorsement from formal rival new jersey governor chris christie. there are heated battles going on for second place. senators ted cruz and marco rubio are ramping up their attacks as they position themselves as an alternative to the billion or. we are -- alternative to the billionaire. are you a ted cruz . rubio supporters,20