south dakota, republican line. caller: i do not know how i want to ask the question, but all the money we're spending on nuclear and the united states is so worried about iran getting one nuclear weapon, and how much do we give israel? billions of dollars. i agree with the gentleman who called and before that went eisenhower warned us about the industrial military complex, all the lobbyists and so forth, lobbying our congressmen for this kind of stuff, i just don't understand. buta vietnam-era veteran, i'm totally against what we are doing in the middle east. i don't think we should intervene. what if some other country would

have intervened during our civil war? host: ok, let's get one more call in. new jersey, democrats line. caller: hello? host: go ahead. caller: when it comes to defense, pass a bill -- the republicans vote against. putting people to work. i don't understand it. -- the billions of dollars, the treasury department. it's all nonsense. republican propaganda. host: the projects that you talked about, they are already in the pipeline. there is no sense that this will continue into the next administration and beyond? guest: there is a chance perhaps the two of them will be stopped. particularly the cruise missile,

the cruise missile designed that will be worked on the next couple years. that is the one that nonproliferation activists have targeted as the most likely part to be canceled. expensivenot the most delivery system, but it would be something that would limit the capabilities, according to the pentagon. host: our guest reports for defense news. if you want to read more about how much things cost, find it on their website. thanks for your time. guest: thank you. host: coming up, we go to the department of defense, the press conference on defense and national security issues being held, featuring secretary of defense ashton carter command joseph dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. that set to take place momentarily. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

him and him and

>> we are lightbank at the

pentagon this morning awaiting a briefing by defense secretary ashton carter and joint chiefs of staff chair joseph dunford. live coverage on c-span. is poised to become the 11th living service member to received the medal of honor. he rescued an american hostage in afghanistan in december 2012. heat took part in the rescue of a man affected along with his driver and an afghan interpreter. we will have live coverage of the ceremony at 11:30 eastern today.

secretary carter: good morning. all righty. listen, thank you. can everybody hear me? thanks for being here. the chairman and i appreciate your being here, look forward to talking to you this morning. i will start. i just had the solemn honor of laying a wreath at the african-american civil war memorial here in washington, honoring the 200,000 african-american soldiers and sailors who served in the u.s. army and navy during the civil war. to end thise helped

award free over 4 million slaves, and the legacy stands as a reminder of the true price of freedom for us all, and this was an important signification of end today of black history month. this also marks the 25th anniversary of our victory in the gulf war. i express my admiration and thanks to the veterans of that war and their families. contributions the of the fighting men and women in that war, our thoughts are also always with service members of today who serve in the same theater. last month i outlined our strategy to deliver isil a lasting defeat in a speech to those service when they spoke at the 101st airborne at fort campbell in kentucky. i described it to our troopers the three key objectives of the campaign.

and itso destroy isil, parent tumor in iraq and syria, and collapse its power centers in raqqa and most. combat the metastases of the isil tumor worldwide. third, to protect the homeland. many are retreating into iraq to assist the mission from -- that soldiers from the 81st airborne affecting so admirably. momentum is now on our site and not on isil's. our partners on the ground in iraq have retaken ramadi and maintains in anbar, while we are making operationally significant strides in our campaign to in syria.isil in the last few days, capable local forces supported by united states have recaptured a

critical mode for isil training and logistics. as our partners take control, i believe we will learn a great 's criminalbout isil networks commits criminal enterprise, and what it does to sustain them. by encircling and taking this town, we are also working to separate the last major artery between raqqa and mostly, critical to dissecting isil's parent tumor in a 2 parts, iraq and syria. at the same time, we are bombing isil's banks as well as oil wells they've taken over. we are also using several tools to disrupt isil's ability to operate and communicate over the virtual battlefield. as we continue to pursue isil's lasting defeat, secretary kerry has shown great determination in pursuing the diplomatic and

political track in syria, which included the signing of the cessation of hostilities agreement last week. if properly and lamented and -- if to, we believe properly implemented and adhered to, we believe this can hasten the delivery of humanitarian aid. it could be a first step towards the end of the civil war and the .uffering of the syrian people we're constantly monitoring the situation on the ground and we will see in coming days that all parties back commitments they have made in words with their actions. let me also make it crystal is no decision of hostilities in the counter-isil campaign. these operations continue unabated. and as i mentioned earlier, they are being solid -- being accelerated across syria and iraq. and ihairman dunford

testified before congress last week, we describe how we intended to back out our operations against isil with the budgetsnding in michigan requesting $7.5 billion, 50% more than last year . and as i described in the budget is one of five challenges we must address as part of the department's mission to defend this country. 2 of the other 4 challenges reflected the return to greet our competition. one, challenges in europe, where we take a strong and balanced approach to deter russian aggression. the other challenge is in the asia-pacific, where china is rising, which is fine, but behaving aggressively, which is not. meanwhile, two other long-standing challenges posed threats in specific regions. north korea is one. that is why our forces on the korean peninsula remain ready to come as they say, fight tonight. the other is iran.

while the nuclear accord is a good deal to prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon, we must still deter iranian russian counter iran's -- iranian aggression and counter iran's influence on our allies, especially israel. we must set the course on how best to prepare for the future. a common theme across our budget is that we in the pentagon have to innovate and think outside our five-sided box. that is why i'm continuing my effort to build bridges with the department of defense and our nation's most innovative industries, enhancing ties that will strengthen this department and our nations security. this will be a key theme of my trip to the west coast that begins this evening. over the next few days i will be discussing technologies, cybersecurity initiatives, and much more with some of the top minds in the tech world. i will also be meeting with some using troops, who are

advanced technologies to keep us safe and prepare for every challenge on the horizon. me andmand that helps the chairman and think through each of the five challenges we now face is our special operations, and i want to tony thomas on his nomination by president obama to assume command at special operations command. as i mentioned last month in tampa, the current commander will soon take command at centcom. general thomas has big boots to fill, but he has proven himself as a soldier, special operator, and later time and time again over the course of his illustrious career. dunford,dent, chairman and i have complete confidence in his ability to assume the vital responsibilities of centcom.

i want to thank the generals and their families for the continued service, and i hope the senate will act quickly on their nominations. i also want to express my deep thanks to general lloyd austin, for his inspired leadership as commander of centcom during an extraordinary time and throughout his remarkable career. finally, i want to note that later today president obama will present the middle of honor to senior chief petty opposite edward byers, who visited my office last week with his wonderful family. i hope you will take the time to watch the ceremony later today -- in fact, later this morning. it was marketable honor for me to speak to such an understated who willingly use himself as a shelf of the hostage he was rescuing, exhibiting a tenacity to disarm an assailant with the composure to assess the situation and ask

about the hostage's condition during the whole fight. ed the rest of his life, byers will be justifiably looked up to buy every special operator who goes out on another mission that most of the mission will never know about, but whose valor allows all of us to dream r dreams and build better lives for our children. he and his fellow warriors are the reason the general and i cannot every day. with that, let me turn it to the general. gen. dunford: let me begin by echoing the secretary's comments about the soldiers, salmon, desert storm's 25th anniversary, and recognizing 20 -- tony- 20 thomas thomas' leadership, and to recognize byers, who will take his award in a minute.

i want to recognize a soldier that served for seven years. john campbell will turn it over and i will have an opportunity to recognize them in person later this week. i want to recognize his 18 months in the leadership position in afghanistan. under very difficult conditions. we are fortunate to have had him during this critical period of transition and also recognize the sacrifice of his family as well, who have been without him for the last 18 months. with that, i'm prepared with secretary to take her questions. mr. secretary, you mentioned with regard to the counter-isil campaign that "momentum is now on our side." one of the big challenges looming ahead is mosul. by theave been movements

iraqis to move troops closer to mosul. i wonder if your currency is that the u.s. role have to get closer to the fight when it comes time to take mosul, something more than what they did, or is ramadi more the model for this current approach? secretary carter: well, i will start and then ask the chairman to pitch in. we are working with the iraqi forces for there envelopment and ultimately the seizure of mosul, absolutely. ramadict it to be like in the sense that the iraqi security forces under the control of the government of will prime minister abadi, be in the lead, but we will be enabling them, and to get your specific question, we do more to enable them? that.e fully expect to do

and when we have the opportunity, the time, the place, the strategic effect, yes, that only the united states can do come with indicated a willingness to do more and i expect we will have opportunities to do that. very quickly from where we are in the process, the iraqis of the ball the plan. there is the process where general mcfarlane is looking at the iraqi plan to make recommendations and the secretary has called on capability enhancements to accelerate the campaign. i, like the secretary, think we thand do more in mosul remind just because of the order of magnitude of the operation in mosul would indicate to me that we have more u.s. support in mosul than in ramadi. i will make us recommend asians to the secretary sometime in the near future. -- make those recommendations to the secretary sometime in the new future. the operation against mosul has already started. we are isolating mosul as we

speak. same thing with raqqa. it is not something that will happen in the deep future. people are confused when would mosul be secure for operations to start. both in terms of cyber capability and the operations to cut the line of communications and go offer target some of those operations have already started. for generalestion dunford on a different topic, afghanistan, which you mentioned in your opening statement. given that the telegram'-- the taliban's research activity in helmand, i wonder if you think the trendlines are headed in the wrong direction, and are you considering the possibility that was the end of this year, you will need to keep more american troops there doing more than currently planned? gen. dunford: what i would say is that in many ways what happened to this summit is not surprising when you think about the difficulty and the political

transition. we've looked at 2013 and assume a certain progression of ministerial capacity, intelligence enterprise, special operations and aviation. many of the assumptions we made in 20 13 -- the aviation capability is not developing as fast as we would've wanted to. many of the afghan forces were tied up in focus -- i focused on 2 major elections and a difficult political transition. this summer we have lessons learned. one is that the afghan forces remain resilient but they have the capability gaps that have been identified, and we are looking at that right now and i will be prepared to make recommendations to the secretary as to how we can incorporate the lessons learned from 2015 into more effective operations in 2016. it would certainly be premature to talk about for self and capabilities and those kinds of things. the key is that we will benchmark the recommendations on the lessons learned in 2015 and what we assessed to be the environment of 2016.

i would like to see if i could continue down on your statement are prepared to do more than mosul. -- more in mosul. were of the same, greater numbers of advisors? are you talking about qualitative change and specifically putting advisors putting closer -- putting advisors closer to the front line, and using full air control to call in strikes? if i could ask you to be more specific on cyberattacks against isis? secretary carter: let me start on the first one and ask the chairman on both of them. with respect to the first one, i think we are talking about both. more of the things that we did in ramadi, but also about traditional things of the kind that we have offered previously. but that were not necessary in the case of ramadi, but might be

helpful, might well be helpful, as iraqi forces moved north. includes, in addition to directly enabling iraqi forces, some things like logistics, bridging, and a whole lot of capabilities. we fully expect to be doing more. iffering in both scale and the kinds of things that we are doing. with respect to ciber, i think you are referring to our use of cyber, which we have talked about generally, in the counter-isil campaign, particularly in syria, to isil'spt, disrupt command and control, to cause them to lose confidence in their networks, to overload their

networks so that they cannot function, and do all of these things that will interrupt their ability to command and control forces there, control the population and the economy, so this is something that's new in this war, not something you would have seen back in the gulf war. but it is an important new capability and it is important use of our cyber command, and the reasons cyber command was established in the first place. gen. dunford: the secretary said we had an increase in quantity and quality. on the quantity side, the operation in mosul is much bigger than ramadi, and the training of the forces conducting operations in mozilla has already started. we looked at ramadi and we have looked at the iraqis closely to

take a look at the lessons learned and there's a couple things we want to do. we want to position ourselves to most effectively support arms for iraqis as they conduct operations. the second piece is we want to ensure flow of logistic support. when i make a recommendation to the secretary, that is where the qualitative changes will be made. we take a hard look at the lessons learned in ramadi to see how we enable what is an iraqi operation to make to the combined arms are effectively delivered when and where the iraqis need them to go into muscle, and to ensure that they have the logistic support necessary to continue operations without we would describe as the operational quadrant there is qualitative and qualitative discussion into play. it is a fundamentally different than what we are doing -- it is not fundamentally different than what we are doing in ramadi could it is doing what we are doing in ramadi better. the broad functions that we will perform are much the same. this still is -- i would put an

exclamation point at the end of the sentence -- still an iraqi operation. it will be informed by the lessons learned with isis but there will be changes. i've seen things we can do better. secretary carter: phil? sorry, go ahead. reporter: we get a list of airstrikes you conducted against isis. can we add to that a list of cyberattacks? secretary carter: probably not. i think we can describe some of the effects there, but because the methods we are using our new , some of them will be surprising, and some of them are applicable to other challenges that i described, other than isil, that we have around the world. we will tell you what we can tell you, but not in a way that compromise is operational security. i think we can describe the effects we're seeing and some of the effects we achieve. reporter: [indiscernible]

secretary carter: we have. but we are learning more, and we are accelerating this, just as we are accelerating over thing syriae are doing both in and iraq, whether it be the air war, the ground war, the cyber war we're looking to accelerate as well. gen. dunford: david, the secretary has talked a lot about physically isolating isil -- in other words, isolating raqqa, isolating mosul, keeping the lines of communications between the two separate, making it difficult for isil. i think conceptually that is exactly the same thing we are trying to do in the cyber war, trying to physically and virtually isolate isil, limit their ability to conduct command and control and ability to communicate with each other at their ability to conduct operations locally and tactically. i will be one of the first ones are going that is all we should talk about. we don't want the enemy to know

when, where, and how we are conducting cyber operations. we don't want them to have information that will allow them to at that overtime. we want them to be surprised when we conduct cyber operations. they will excretes friction associated with us and friction associated with the normal course of events in the information age. it is to our advantage to maintain the element of surprise for connecting cyber operations. quick question on syria. if the cease-fire does not hold, is there any point at which syria's civil war effexor strategy combating -- affects your strategy combating isil? visit any point at which what happens in the syrian civil war affect what you are doing their? are hopingarter: we obviously with the cessation of hostilities that humanitarian assistance can be provided.

that is the principal objective here. it may -- that may -- i thatinly hope we all hope that leads to a furthering of the political revolution of the syrian civil war. the syrian civil war was one of the causes of isil in the first place so it is important that that be resolved. , it is notmeantime going to get in the way of accelerating the counter-isil campaign. the events there having no effect on our counter-isil campaign, there is no secession of hostilities there. it would be very desirable with just the cessation of hostilities now were deleted to traditions of resolution of the syrian civil war were to lead to conditions of --were to lead to conditions of resolution of the syrian civil war. gen. dunford: we can dismantle,

reduce the capabilities of isil, and all the things i spoke about a minute ago, but at the end of the day, lasting peace in syria will require addressing grievances associated with the civil war, a political process that leads to transition. what we are doing on the ground against isil in dismantling the capability, but the facts on the ground are in support of the overall political process, solution in syria. reporter: what is the current status of any efforts by the u.s. and coalition nations to confront isis in libya? does that plan call for airstrikes only? they were recent photos of u.s. special operations forces on the ground in libya. were they assessing the possible allied forces they could find on the ground? does it require for any kind of sustained air campaign against governmente a viable in place in tripoli before the u.s. coalition --

secretary carter: let me start with the last part first, , to trythat is the key to get a government in tripoli that can win the support of all libya,many factions in so that libya isn't a kind of disordered state that provides fertile ground for isil to spread. one thing that the libyans disagreed among themselves a lot, one thing that is very true , is they don't like foreigners being there. they do like foreigners coming into their territory, that is what -- they don't like foreigners coming into the territory, that is what isil. foreigners coming in to dominate their people. we fully expect that when, which we hope is soon, a government is formed in libya, it will welcome not just the united states for but italy in

particular, being so close, has offered to take the lead there, but we have already promised we will support them. i hope that is part of the future. in the meantime, to get to the other part of your question, we are going to protect ourselves in libya, as everywhere else, and as you probably know, we have taken some strikes there and will continue to do that. the important objective is to put libya back on the path to having a government that can give the people be some governments, and -- decent governance. the libyans are very proud. the people are not going to want foreigners marauding around the country. gen. dunford: jim come i don't have much more, but the recommendation's we have made for military campaigns, the question of what we are exactly doing, have informed the

priority of seeking a government of national accord, not doing anything on the ground that would undermine the political transition in libya, which is very important. having said that, we have very much aware of isil's expansion in libya, and the strike was designed to get after that. i think what you see is where there is opportunity to conduct andations against isil disrupt them at this point and not undermine the political process, that is where we are. at some point in the future, if i believe we are at risk with that strategy, i will come back with the secretary and make some different recommendation. right now it very much is informed by a balance between wanting to contain or disrupt isil and at the same time ensure gna has a full opportunity to be seated. reporter: if i could follow up, please, does that have a requirement in place after coalition forces essentially

drove moammar qaddafi from power and left the entire country lawless and open to the spread of terrorism? secretary carter: well, the situation now is one in which the country is divided and there are a number of different parties to aspire to being part of the government. notand by the way, we are the only ones, are trying to get them to reach a government of national accord. that would restore in libya a give thegovernment and people what they sorely need, which is an end to the violence, libyan against libyan. at that point i am certain they will want help and the international community will help turn against isil. tony? reporter: want to be clear -- gen. dunford: jim, my french counterpart -- it is less about the specific lessons learned in libya then it is broadly this,

and my french counterparts is look, it is one thing to win the war. you have got to win the peace. if you look at the last decade-plus, ensuring there is a political transition which leads to enduring peace and stability, is critical, making the sacrifices meaningful. that is the focus in libya, to win the peace as well as when the war. you have to start out winning a vision of what the peace means. reporter: this is clearly different than traditional where you warfare actively jam. this is beyond that stability. secretary carter: it is beyond that. we do that, too. the 2 enable one another and complement each other, electronic warfare delivering through radiofrequency means, and cyber. electronic warfare has been a long as -- been around as long

as radio has an cyber is something new. reporter: is this a template for , africa,, all the commands could replicate in the regions, if they needed to use this capability? secretary carter: some of the tools uncertainly cyber com itself was designed to make the united states proficient and powerful in this tool of war. all the other commanders are beneficiaries of cybercom and the same kinds of capabilities. gen. dunford: tony, i'm not sure i would use the word "template." we are developing tools that the combatant commanders can employ. you cannot replicate what we are inng today against isil syria and elsewhere in the world. you can leverage the jewels in

this particular operation for other operations down the road. reporter: for both of you gentlemen, there is concern talking about special operations forces for you. about it publicly before -- but you have both talked about it publicly before. i'm sorry, going back to public comments, mr. secretary, that what, asting force -- you view it right now -- you have talked about the six element -- this accelerant. how much reliance -- what are they bringing, broadly speaking, to the table for you? do you envision the possibility of seeking more? i'm interested in your thoughts on where you stand now, looking at special operations forces. publicly and knowledge -- publicly acknowledged master taking shaddadi back. on cyber come in your mind what is the trade-off on being able to attract their intelligence

networks? if you disrupt them, is there a risk in your mind that they go underground and cyberattacks could simply drive them into an alternative strategy that might be more difficult to track? secretary carter: ok, let me go to -- i'm going to second the chairman's shaking of a set on specifics of the expeditionary targeting force -- reporter: broadly -- secretary carter: yes, broadly speaking, it is a tool to conduct raids of various kinds, seizing places and people, freeing hostages, prisoners of that and making it such anywhere,o fear that anytime, it may be struck.

the only thing i will say is that the etf is in position, it is having an effect, and operating, and i expect it to be a very effective part of our acceleration campaign. i don't have any more on that. i will say something about your second part of the question that asked the chairman to pigeon -- pitch in. as we disrupt the isil communications via cyber or other methods, sometimes we do drive them to other means. it cuts both ways. sometimes those other means are easier for us to listen to. by taking away some of the ways that they are used to operating, that they are protected and regard as information sanctuary, drives them to other, including , so one waylogies

or another it is an effective tool. we cannot allow them to freely command-and-control forces that are enemy forces. it is just like any other war, we have to attack the command-and-control and it is one of the ways of doing it. it may have a beneficial effect of driving them to the kinds of communications that it is in fact easier for us to disrupt, and to get your question, to listen to come also. gen. dunford: i would say your question about the intel trade-offs is a fair and good question and something we take a hard look at, and each and every time we conduct an operation, that is one of the variables we consider and how to conduct the operation. it is a piece of it. at the end of the day, what we are trying to do is make life difficult for isil and we are trying to stay step ahead of them. we are trying to force them to make changes and then we can

anticipate some of the annotations there -- adaptations they are going to make. reporter: very quickly, mr. secretary, what you are saying is as you think of this cyber strategy, some of the goal is to -- you said older communications. is the goal to get them off the dark web and back onto cell phones -- secretary carter: i would say the goal is to not allow them to communicate and exploit the internet or nefarious purposes and to dominate territory and people in iraq and syria and globally. you were asking what other kinds of effects it may have and it can go both ways. the chairman indicated we can look at the intelligence trade-off and that can go both ways. the objective is to make it much more difficult for them to command and control their forces. reporter: question for each of you. first, mr. secretary, last week at the confirmation hearings of

brad carson, senator mccain called it an outrageous waste of time. my question is does he have a point at all in that there is ongoing military operations against isis in at least four countries and there's the question of security in russia and china. is this really the right time to be taking on such a huge overall of -- overhaul of personnel? secretary carter: well, we need to do these things at the same time. we need to carry out operations in the present, we need to prepare for future operations, but the point is a recognition that the forces we are using today are the finest the world has ever known, and they are that because we have the finest people. what we need to do is make sure future --tract in the remember, it is an all volunteer force -- that we can attract the very best and also that we can retain the very best.

that is why we look at such ,hings as family programs maternity leave, pay, all of these things are important to attracting and retaining the very best. most of these do not in fact cost very much money. that is not really the principle principal limitation. we are not aany -- company. we are not like walmart or anybody else and can apply the same recruiting and retention tools other companies do. we can learn from them, but this remains the profession of arms. our objective is force effectiveness. we are not trying to be futuristic, we're not tied to be progressive -- not trying to be progressive. continue tog to

attract and maintain the very best. do we have to do all these things at the same time? yes, we have to make investments in future technology, we have to make investments, which is what this is about, human investments and continue to have the very best in and do all the things we're doing around the world. -- that isot forget what force the future is all about, that the reason the military is the best in the world is because of our people. the reason everybody likes to partner with us, exercise, train, operate with us, is the like working with our people. the recent weekend conduct complicated operations like the one the chairman was talking to with respect to the via -- to libya and syria and iraq is we are working with local forces end have to sustain the victory. we have these tremendous people and we have to make sure that they stick with us and that we get a new generation.

that is a serious part of the preparation for future warfare. -- like theout civilian world, it is not about being progressive. i will be in front of the senate armed services committee and i look for to telling them more about it, and i hope that everyone understands the logic of what we are doing and supports steps we are trying to take. it will take more could we have to take more. dunford, ahairman few questions ago you said that mosul is not in the deep future, and i'm wondering if you think that both mosul and raqqa will be moving past the isolation phase and into a more direct operation phase before the end of the year? gen. dunford: honestly, i don't know. i don't know. my point in highlighting that is that operations have already

begun. there is a lot of unknowns as you start the operation chris what is the -- as you start the operations. what is the enemy going to be, what is the support going to be, those kinds of things. rather than project when this is over, we have to set the conditions now to isolate mosul and make sure with successful operations in mosul. i would not at all be in the business of predicting when mosul would be secured were seized -- or seized. reporter: general dunford, given the high rate the release of guantánamo detainees return to the battlefield, are you concerned that these released detainees will go back to the battlefield until americans again -- and kill americans again? gen. dunford: first of all, we are not releasing detainees from guantanamo bay. there is a plan that would cause them to be relocated. i'm concerned about three things. whether it is the military tribunal or otherwise, that they

are properly adjudicated. there are individuals who need to be incarcerated, that they are properly incarcerated. there was not any proposal i am aware of the changes standard under which we actually continue to detain these intervals. reporter: mr. secretary, can you rule out that guantanamo bay will be transferred back to the cubans? secretary carter: rule that out? [laughter] oh, you mean the whole base. the basis's from the detention facility. the base is in a strategic location and we have had it for a lifetime and it is important to us and we intend to hold onto it. as the chairman said, with respect to the detention facility at gitmo, which is what the president was speaking about last week, the point, and it is very important to be this, -- to repeat this, where the chairman started, there are people in the guantanamo bay detention facility whom it is not safe to

transfer to any other -- they have to stay in u.s. detention. that safety is the top priority, for me, for the chairman. and so there has to be an alternative detention facility created. thatis what the proposal was announced last week is about. now, that can't be done on this congress -- unless congress acts, which means congress has to support the idea that it would be good to move his --ility -- with a detainees for the detainees, to the united states. i believe very strongly that it would and there are a number of reasons for that, but not least of which it would be cheaper, and it comes out of our budget. -- ourhave the duty people do that, our service numbers do it very professionally, but it is not a duty i wish them to have.

if we could find a place where fewer of them have that duty, it is a good thing. it is good if it can be done but it cannot be done under current law. the law has to be changed. that is the reason the proposal in front of congress -- there are those in congress who have indicated a willingness to consider such a proposal, which is why we gave it, and i hope they considered favorably, because on balance this would be a good thing to not pass on to a future administration. i really believe that. it has to be done safely, that is the key. >> thanks, everybody. we encourage everybody to watch this or money at the white house in the upcoming our -- the ceremony in the white house in the upcoming hour. sorry.ry carter: oh, thanks, chairman. he and i are going on trouble. i will be on a trip in the united states this week, just for your interest. i will be visiting some of our troops on the west coast, but a

principal reason for the trip out there is to continue to reinforce our links to the innovative technology sector of the united states. even as we need to make sure that our people in the next generation are the best, as they are today, we'd to make sure the technology in an action ration is the best. -- we need to make sure the technology in the next generation is the best. gen. dunford: i will spend time with forces in central command. secretary carter: please watch the medal of honor ceremony. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> as you just heard mentioned

there, a navy seal is poised to today become deal of the living service time to get the medal of honor. knoller cer mark tweeted these pictures. president obama will present the medal honor to edward byers. he took part in a rescue of a man abducted along with his driver and afghan interpreter. you will watch the entire ceremony in half an hour on our companion network, c-span2, starting at 11:30. congress is back on capitol hill today. the house meet at noon eastern for short speeches. legislative work will get underway at 2:00 pit legislators will consider nine bills, anduding one on fema changes to the agency, and another on training state and local law enforcement on counterterrorism tactics. live coverage throughout the day on c-span. when auesday tomorrow,

dozen states and one territory hold primaries to pick presidential nominees, and we will be covering a number of those campaign stops. senator marco rubio is in a georgia today. you can see his atlanta rally at 12:30 p.m. eastern. cruz holds a rally in texas. he will be joined by greg gabbert and perry. you can see that on c-span3. c-span3 will have live coverage of hillary clinton's rally at 30 a.m. donald trump holds a campaign rally in georgia this evening. .t starts at 6 p.m. eastern we will have live coverage of that event. ♪

>> c-span student cam documentary contest needs your vote. you will get to select the fan favorite. watch the top4 videos and cast your vote online print the student who is dotmatrix the most votes will win the fan favorite prize of $500. the fan favorite winter, along with the winners of the student cam competition will be announced live on march 9 on c-span. >> republican presidential candidate ohio governor john cusick delivered remarks to voters and answered questions from attendees and a camping town hall in nashville, tennessee on saturday. he addressed a variety of policy issues both foreign and domestic.

he called on his fellow gop holds. to have a less divisive discourse as the campaign move forward. this is about an hour. -- good morning nashville. we hear a lot the moderators on who would be the best president candidate. how would they know? i have sent young men to be in

harms way and serve our country. i have stood on the oval office court on september 11, 2001 and watched as marine one brought home the president. to begin the response on the war against terrorism. takes for ait president to be a successful leader in this country. that is why i am supporting governor john cusick emma john kasichakes -- because it takes courage, wisdom, vision, and integrity. it takes the courage to be able to say, this is what is right, no matter how unpopular, to do what is right for this country. it takes the wisdom that comes from experience, from succeeding, from family, from living. someone with experience is very important in the oval office. governor kasich has vision.

he has been on the other side of the mountain, and can say to the american people, i know what is possible for this country, follow me, i will take you to a better place. america wants to believe in a leader who believes in them, not someone who is apologetic. finally, integrity. this is the most powerful position in the world. i like to think that power is in the hands of someone who will not use it for political or personal gain. there is no vocation or job where integrity is more important than the president of the united states. i am supporting governor kasich. he's a republican, i'm a republican, sure, i would like to see a republican in the white house, but the reason i'm supporting governor kasich is because i love america, and everything america has done for me. i'm supporting america and governor kasich because i love my son, and i want a better future. we have some work to do, some ground to make up.

if we work hard, together -- you and i, we share a common vision. faith and freedom. please join me in giving a warm national welcome to the next president of united states, governor john kasich. [applause] gov. kasich: thank you all. there you go. you got it. that's right. thank you all for being here. i think this thing works. how are you doing? thanks for coming up this morning. some facility. i kept almost popping out. i felt like jagger before they

introduced the stones. you have to be careful about those buckeye flags. we are down here. let me tell you a little bit about myself. how about the judge? [applause] politics is a tough business. it is not so tough if you weasel around, like a reed in the wind. the judge had a very hard time in a very difficult time in a nation's history. i was talking to him backstage. i said, judge, you took a lot of hits back in those days. he said, he did. he said, i would do it all again.

the challenge in politics, when you are willing to walk a lonely road, and take a hit, the first principle, you tell all the people you love to not watch television, and not go on the internet. [laughter] gov. kasich: that is what you have to do. there is such pressure for people to go along and get along. i have been through this all my lifetime. always doubted, always having people fighting -- no, he is not this, not that -- i want to tell all you young people, let me explain to you, a leader walks a lonely road. a leader cannot get so far ahead that no one sees them, but the leader does not operate inside the crowd. one thing the leader always has to do is check with people who

care about him, love him, understand him or her. you always have to say, and i on the right track? is this the right thing? sometimes you have to do it with not just one, a couple of people. sometimes you go it alone, regardless of what those around you say. remember noah? here is noah. he is living in nevada -- or saudi arabia -- nothing but does it. he starts building a boat. the people are coming by, laughing at him, mocking him, and think he is crazy, but he just keeps building that boat. who was the smart one? old noah. sometimes you have to be willing to stand. that is what judge gonzales did when he was attorney general of the night states of america. give him one more great round of applause. [applause] gov. kasich: i want to tell you

a little about me, who i am, so you can get a sense of this. i grew up in a little blue-collar town outside of pittsburgh. my father was a mailman. he delivered mail to my home. my father, as i have been saying increasingly on the trail, was the man who stuck his nose in everybody's business. here's what i mean. if a kid fumbled a ball on friday night at the football game, my dad would tell him he is a star. when a girl rose and one that -- won the tennis tournament, he would say, you are really something.

when somebody in the neighborhood had a big win, my dad would celebrate with them. when somebody in the neighborhood had a big loss, my father would cry with them. my mother and father were taken suddenly a drunk driver. people came to see me at the funeral home. they lined up, one after the other, to tell me about how much my daddy had meant to them and their family. beautiful story, isn't it? his father was a coal miner. he would go down in the mine, and he thought he had a good

hsul, but they would say, no, too much of that was pete. of course they were ripping him off. he died of black lung. my mother was a radio talkshow pioneer. when someone would say something on the radio, she would yell at the radio. [laughter] she was an incredible woman. a visionary. i can remember her telling me, when i was a kid, the day will come when you have to pay for television, so get all you can get for free. i can remember her saying, the day will come when you will get a phone call, and you better look good because the other person on the phone will be able to see you. how she knew this 50 years ago? my mother was always there. i have never told the story. why does popping in my head, --

why it is popping in my head, you will get it. i was on a show called "battle of the wits." it was a big deal. when i was sitting in the green room, i read a story in u.s. news -- i was so exhausted from studying. the story i was reading was the most important question asked in the television show. my mother snuck into the control room of the television show without me knowing because she wanted to support me. it was such a profound impact, the way my mother engaged in my lifetime in ways that say i can only understand. last night, we were in memphis. we had about a thousand people, just like we have today. as i was sitting in the car,

waiting for one of the folks i work with to come out of the building, i saw a mom and a little boy walking across. i yelled, "hey, kid," and i said, "come here." he got a little afraid. his mother was with him. she said to him, it's ok, son. he walked right up to where the window was. i said, how old are you? he said, i am 10. i said, let me tell you something about my mommy, she would bring me to a place just like your mommy brought you today. i said, mom, how is it going?

she said, he wanted to come, it was our date night. the little boy was putting his arm around her mother's waist and she put her arm around the little boy's shoulders. i told my friend, who were with me, in the car, and one of them said, this makes me sad. i said, why does that make you sad -- does it make you sad? he said, it makes me think of my mother. i said, no, does not make you sad, it is bittersweet when we connect. that is special. i am running for president of the united states, as you all know. these are special moments for me, to be able to tell you a story like this, to get you to

reflect on your mom, for those who still have a mom. call her up tomorrow and tell her how much she means to you. see, our families, our communities, and neighborhoods, that is what makes us strong. frankly, we ought to have an adult president, a grown-up. [applause] gov. kasich: i don't get to see much because i am just like a fedex package. i just get sent from one location to another. i have to tell you, i ran for the state senate. i was 24-25 years old.

i ran against an incumbent. i never attacked him personally. that was a tough election. he not only had a dam named after the family, but they had a funeral home in existence for over 100 years. they truly were the last ones to let you down. i ran for congress in 1982. i was the only republican to win that year. people counted me out of the race for the ohio senate. i was completely unknown, i was a kid. i ran against that guy. it was about the record. he wouldn't support reagan, i did. it wasn't easy to support reagan in 1982. everybody was running away from him. i won a bunch of different elections, people were trying to smear me. then, i ran for governor.

when did we get to this point in this country when we can call people by names and people can represent themselves to young people? enough of this trash. go and tell people what you are for. [applause] gov. kasich: how do you feel about this? enough of this trash. you see, what we are doing when we stand and applaud on something like that is we are voting for ourselves, saying, be better than that. we are america. can you imagine people around the world looking at what is happening here? for me, i will not let anybody just count on me.

i defend myself. you have to understand where i come from. if you beat us in the football game, we break every window on the bus. we don't mess around. i think, in this country, when you run for the highest office in the land, records are fair game. i want to tell you one other thing. the people in that town, in washington, the special interest groups, that i have fought for 25-30 years, will never call the tune with me. you are the ones who will call the tune with me. not these k street lobbyists and political insiders in washington. i have had enough of them, and i know you have too. let us change this country for the best.

[applause] a quick story. i leave that little town, and go to a little tiny school in the midwest. i'm not sure you have ever heard of it. it's called ohio state university. [applause] gov. kasich: i have 15 college roommates. a lot of bad -- not bad, but frustrating things happen in the first few weeks. i decide i need to change the rules. i decided i needed to meet with the president of the diversity. they invite me in to a meeting with the president. i lodge my complaint. i said, i've been in school for about a month, i'm undecided, but i a look around, and i say, maybe this is the job for me, what do you do? he told me about fund raising, and he said, tomorrow i'm going down to meet with mr. nixon. i said, could i go with you?

he said, no. i said, if i write a letter, would you give it to the president of the united states? he said, i could do that. i went back to my dorm room, and basically vitamin c to the white house. a few weeks later, i go down to my mailbox, and there is a letter from the office of the president. i call home, oak of the letter, and say, mom, i'm going to need an airline ticket, the president of the united states wants to

have a meeting in the oval office. this is a true story. airline ticket, i fly down to washington, i go through security, and i'm sitting on a bench outside the oval office, and a guy walks up to me and says, you will get five minutes alone with the president of the united states. i'm an 18-year-old college students. i'm thinking, new tie, new jacket, new pants, i didn't come here for five lousy minutes. i sit at his desk alone for 20 minutes. if you add up all the time i spent in the oval office, i peaked at age 18. [applause] gov. kasich: that has been my life, one lightning strike after another. here is what i want you to know. you can see this debt clock back here. i'm the only guy who travels around with the debt clock. when i was in the senate, those numbers went down. we balance the budget, and pay down half a trillion dollars of

the national debt. they said it could not be done, it would not be done, and then it got done. it was so hard because we had to step on every single special interest group in washington. we rewrote the entire government of the united states. wages were up to the point where bill clinton tried to take credit. you know bill clinton. if there is a riot coming, he will get the front, and call it a parade. i left. i was 48 years old. i said, enough, i will going to some other things -- do some other things. there was a projected $5 billion

surplus, and it all got spent. by guess who? the republicans controlled the house, senate, and white house, anthey spent it. republicans love to spend, democrats love to spend too, they just feel guilty. i get the insecurity of jobs because, in my hometown, as a kid, if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. i understand the value of work. isn't it interesting, the debate the other night, the only person who mentioned jobs was me. we need to go back to this, we need to get our budget in order, cut taxes, free up small business, and have a fiscal plan that makes sense so that we can

uberize the federal government. that is what we need to do. completely change it. i did it in ohio where we lost 350,000 jobs. we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. here's what you need to know. we have done better. we have taken efforts to provide resources to the mentally ill. we believe they don't need to live under a bridge or in prison, they need to get on their feet. [applause] gov. kasich: in case you ever wonder about do they live under a bridge, i was in new orleans, i saw them living under the bridge. you see them with the shopping carts sometimes. they have all their worldly possessions in that shopping cart.

because things aren't working right up here, they are ignored. the drug addicted, they need to be rehabbed. back to mom. mom held that baby in her arms, had big hopes and dreams, and they start to fall apart. we can help those people get back on their feet and live out their dreams. the working poor, they don't need to live in our emergency room's, they need to be given a sense that they can get ahead, get health care, and by the way, when they get a pay raise, they shouldn't have to turn it down because the system is so dumb. let's change the system. [applause] gov. kasich: that's enough. that's enough preaching. we are now going to go to questions. i have been having great times at the town halls. don't screw this up for me. [laughter]

gov. kasich: who wants to go first? right there. >> [indiscernible] gov. kasich: can we get a microphone over to the gentleman? you are a high paid expert. what are we paying you -- a couple of coffee? >> you are a realist. i support you 100%. the question that i have is, if the party is going to be hijacked, and we will be left with two choices, hillary clinton or donald trump, he said that if the party does not treat him fair, he will leave and run as a third-party candidate. will you do the same? please do. if that is our choice, please do.

[applause] gov. kasich: let me tell you a couple of things. look, i beat hillary clinton by more than any other republican candidate in the race -- 11 points. [applause] gov. kasich: we have not been talking about this much, but i beat her by 18 points in ohio. i have not checked the record yet, by don't think any republican has ever been elected president without winning ohio. does anyone know that to be true? by the way, i will beat donald trump in ohio. that will be the beginning of a new day. [applause] gov. kasich: i will beat him in ohio. count on it. some of the other candidates, if they cannot win their home state, they should get out. if i can't win my home state, i will get out. i will win ohio. i can promise you. this lady is moving back there with the flag, and she will waive it.

look -- sir. the party is -- he says it is not the party is to be. let me tell you. i come from the ronald reagan kemp, teddy roosevelt wing of the party. our republican party is most comfortable without having ideas. we are most comfortable -- and i have seen all my lifetime -- when bill clinton had his tax increase in 1993, which everybody said helped grow the economy -- no, it hurt the economy. raising taxes does not help. i had a counter plan that could meet the goals we had.

it was specific about how we would do it. we had a republican caucus. newt was the speaker. we went into this meeting. it was unbelievable. we had 36 speakers, and 34 of them said, we should only oppose clinton and not offer our ideas. there were two of us opposing it. i had the plan. i walked to the back of the room and said, newt, what do you think? he said, i do not think we would be doing this well. [laughter] gov. kasich: we offered the plan. if you listen to my friend joe scarborough, he said those are the debates that convinced him to run for congress. then, the class of 1994 came in here and they did not give a hoot about reelection. they balanced the budget. we have to be a party of ideas. you know why we got obamacare? because republicans didn't do anything.

in science, if there is a void, what happens? what happens? yell it out. you are not getting an a in science today. stop doing politics and study science. you never know. a void. why have we not been out there performing systems? at least putting the ideas out. it is ok to lose. bold ideas never get accepted overnight. the only time i have been involved, when my ideas got accepted overnight is because when i was a governor. as an executive, you have the opportunity to call the tunes. i go to new york, and the credit agencies say they will downgrade our credit.

all we were doing was taxing and spending. in the blink of an eye, by having some commonsense regulations, by cutting taxes. we even killed the death tax. now, we are working on killing death. as an executive, you can drive things quickly. we are not the party of ideas as much as we should. you know what ideas do? ideas change the world. you have two guys in harvard, eating pizza in their dorm room, i met these guys driving a volkswagen with their in-line skates tied to the roof. they started google.

by the way, if you want to read a great book, get the book on the wright brothers. give me that thing. [laughter] gov. kasich: you all see this? i have twins that are 16 years old. they are doing great. dj shook his head. i love north carolina, but flight was ohio, not north carolina. it was in our state -- anyway. about 5 or six years ago, i was in florida, with my daughter. they said to me, what is that thing over there?

i said, that is where superman changed his clothes. i said, mom and dad used to put coins in that thing to make a phone call. they were like, no way. this is what changes the world. not the device, so much -- we are a constantly connected consumer. we do it all from our living room. you can go from one end of manhattan to the other for five dollars. they are talking about flying cars in the next few years. you can google it. i have always believed in flying cars. medicine is changing. everything is changing, except the government. we have to have an attitude of change and innovation, and shifting the power out of big bureaucracy.

big bureaucracies don't work. if you are in a business, and you don't change, you die. if you are in government don't change, you get $19 trillion in debt, and reelected. it has to stop. [applause] [laughter] gov. kasich: i get more iphone six's that way. i think you got my point. yes? >> i ask this question in the context of jobs. i'm a student at the university of tennessee. we have received numerous reports in our field about how renewable energy would create jobs. transition to cleaner energy, for instance, with a solar farm,

it requires more people to run a solar farm chemical plant. gov. kasich: i'm not sure that is right. >> over the lifetime, i mean. increasingly, the cost for a solar plant -- over a lifetime, again -- is getting closer and closer to that of a coal plant. gov. kasich: let me talk about climate change. i think that science matters. [applause] gov. kasich: by the way, i also believe in evolution. i don't think that evolution and science is inconsistent. i don't think it is. i want to be clear, i respect science. [applause] gov. kasich: at the end of the

day, by the way, those two philosophies -- creationism and evolution -- they are not exclusive, in my opinion. here is the thing. we want to be in a position to recognize that of course we affect the temperature of the climate, but we don't really know by how much. everybody in here wants to make sure their kids will have a decent environment. there was a reporter who came to see me not long ago. i didn't really remember this all that well, but when we grew up, in pittsburgh, on a bad day, everything would be cloudy, and there would be soot on the windshields. everything got cleaned up, but we were sensitive to it. we are here to manage the environment, but not to worship it. here's what we need to do. we all love renewables.

in my state, i'm fighting to make sure we have a realistic, robust, renewable policy. i believe in solar and wind. big subsidies on both of them, that's ok. what i really believe in is battery technology. i would suggest something to you. do you want to be a billionaire? >> [indiscernible] gov. kasich: battery technology, or be a billionaire? [laughter] gov. kasich: here is the thing, if i were you, i would go back to your dorm room, or apartment, and i would get the breakthrough on battery technology.

that will transform the world. when the sun doesn't shine, you still have power stored. by the way, i want to congratulate you for being an electrical engineering. i think that is fantastic that you are doing that. [applause] gov. kasich: these are the things that get me in trouble, but if you had gotten into it a few years ago, you could be contributing to my campaign. you will be successful. we have to be realistic. in my state, they mandated a response, but was unrealistic. i believe we need all sources and all forms of energy in our country. another thing. we need to be energy independent. we do fracking in ohio. not a lot of it, but we are doing it. it is nascent. we have very tough rules around it. we don't think it is inconsistent to have a clean environment and have energy. why do we need energy independence? you want to bring manufacturing back here?

it is such a great advantage for us if we can have low-priced energy. we have to keep all these things in mind. most things in life are about a balance. some things are black-and-white. most things are a matter of balance. that is what i think of all the -- that. yes, right here. you are probably the one paying the bills. >> welcome to nashville. you will not insult me here if i ask you something? gov. kasich: it depends what you ask. [laughter] i would hope not. >> i will probably have as much time as you and ben carson have on the stage. just bear with me for a second. i came here for -- ted cruz had a rally here in december, and i came to that rally and talked to a guy who is the state chair for him here.

last sunday i went to the rubio rally and spoke with todd harris at that rally. both of them are nice rallies. thiss the best one i have been too, just so you know. [applause] anyway, it has been a great experience hearing about about noah. i love your attitude and i love your american indians of slogan. -- america never gives up slogan. my distant blood uncles patrick henry and my distant cousin was dolly madison. all the things that are dear, the ability to speak, the first amendment what you are doing , here is letting people get up

and talk. this is the only time we get to do it, these times of events. i share some information with those campaigns. something bad going on in nashville, and it is kept from the people of nashville. is blocking it out. erin andrews is here. we have a federal lawsuit, the sexual assault. getting dragged through everything in the media. gov. kasich: he's getting to it. we have to get to it. the challenge is what? >> in 2008 there was a child molestation cover-up tied to mike huckabee. the national police got used and

my daughter and our family was silent. i didn't find out -- it took four or five years to hear about it. and it is buried. no one is hearing about it, tennessee, nobody is reporting about it. i have gone to campaigns and try to let them know and the church that was involved, a church here in nashville, their pastor was bragging about how they were having an affair at their church and ted cruz was going to have some kind of event. i think after penn state and what happened with sandusky and you are talking about communities and families and things that there are kids out here and if we are not allowed to speak up -- gov. kasich: let me tell you what his question is. we were at last night in memphis

and we heard some things that were not good. i don't know what is true and what is not. but if you are a dad and you have a daughter who may have been abused and you just, here is what i will say, we will have our folks gather your information, we need to get to the mayor or i need to call the governor of the state about this and have them look into it, i would be more than glad to do it. let me tell all of you here that when it was just real early in the news i was reading about the sexual assaults on campus. it is a complicated subject. but i told our folks we have to make it safe for somebody who has been abused to be able to seek justice. we're putting a policy in all of

our campus, if something happens to them they have somewhere they can go to in a position of confidentiality. often times it takes somebody some time to think about what they want to do. we are making sure our public universities, that there is a safe place for people to go. maybe we don't like to hear about all this stuff. i think we just have to look and say what is true and what is not? all i'm trying to say is make sure we do the best we can as

human beings to bring justice to this world. [applause] every time i say something you shake your head so you get to ask the question. >> i fly primarily in asia. since president obama has been in office -- 747. gov. kasich: do you have any tenets for us? us?eanuts for [laughter] how about more leg room? [laughter]

>> my question to you is what are we going to do with militarization of the south china sea? gov. kasich: you understand what is going on. the chinese are being extremely aggressive. there are these islands out there. they are trying to make things a reality. in other words just get some batteries on the island, they are putting radars up. it is a very serious matter. and the president of china, he is pretty aggressive. we are going to make it clear you do not own those islands. there is now a case in the international court. frankly the chinese get concerned when they get isolated. the world may have to isolate

them if they are going to continue this kind of behavior. it is unacceptable. the administration has done more aggressive things in the south china sea. we have to keep doing it and went to bring all of our allies. sometimes there is an opportunity to have lemonade and to be able to get closer to our allies in asia who don't want to see chinese domination. they want to see some u.s. backbone. that is one thing they would like to say. [applause] there are a number of things we can do to send a strong signal to the chinese. here's what is interesting. we set it the other night in the debate. i don't know how many people

heard it. we have a serious problem with north korea. what we have been saying is we will give the south koreans -- this is serious stuff. this is not some silly little game. we are not playing risk. this is international affairs. because we told the south koreans and the japanese we would give them capability on some level of ballistic defense, the chinese got upset, in a good way. they are starting to do more action. now we have reached an agreement with the chinese to do inspections of air and ship. you know what they want to do, north koreans want to send this stuff out. someday you will run this world. he will run this country. the biggest challenge we have is to stop the ability of crazy people out there to get their

hands on a nuclear weapon. we must do everything we can to stop it. that means we have to be tough. with the chinese, you want to cyber attack us. we are going to destroy those elements. we don't need to have a war. we don't need to have a war. they are a competitor. we have a lot of competitors in life. be firm. be in a position where you are consistent with what you say, same thing with russia. first of all we are going to arm ukraine. we are going to give ukrainians the ability to fight for their own freedom. [applause] and if you invade finland, sweden, or any other country,

consider it an attack on us. i don't want to hear anymore nonsense. the tragedy in syria is we should have been supporting the rebels from the beginning and instead we did nothing and we had a redline and we did nothing. this is what you get. we have to learn from history. the last man left in europe is angela merkel. she's a great leader. do i need to buy something? [laughter] >> my name is stacy harris. i would like for you to help me as you are planning to help this gentleman with an insurmountable issue. on the back of my card it's as homeless homeowner.

my me explain that as briefly as i can. we ally own homes and learned in seventh-grade civics class that only the government can take your home. my home was not taken by the government. when the government takes your home it can only be done if there is a public need to do it, you haven't committed a crime, and none of those things apply to me. this is i am a whistleblower like you. identify with your story of going to the white house. i was a 14-year-old in minneapolis, minnesota wanting to see bobby kennedy. my parents would not drive me to six hours there. two years later i met him in his office.

with respect to losing my home, this is illegal and i have had some traction in that i have gotten to the point where i got my state legislator to ask the attorney general. he has refused to do that, citing all kinds of things. the bottom line is what everybody in this room should be concerned about, my personal situation, because if you are a resident and a property owner it affects you. what we have now is case law as a result of what i went through legally and the state court system. i'm going to have to get to the federal court system. gov. kasich: i'm going to give you an answer to this right now, when this is over you are going to walk right over here to this man and he's going to hear what you have to say and he's going to let me know what he thinks.

>> one more thing, this is a conservative issue. i'm a democrat but i voted for you last week. [applause] everybody in this room, you included -- everybody wants pie-in-the-sky. i wrote to two of his attorneys, his press secretary about this issue, no response. he cares for people, that's what he says. you do care for people. gov. kasich: we will make sure we get with you and we get with this gentleman back here. let me tell you what is happening folks -- thank you. let me tell you what is happening. for the last six months i have been going places and people have been pouring their hearts out to me. she is here because she says some reason maybe this guy will care about me. i don't know where you got that from, i like that.

i thank the lord that people can tell me their problems. a father stands up, do you know how hard that was for that guy? there are many people in this country who feel as though nobody listens to them, no one helps them, and no one fights for them. [applause] i am glad we have gone here and i'm going to tell you why. i had a lady in virginia, she stood up in front of 1000 people and spoke about her autistic son. where is he going to go when i get old. and then she came to the rope line and said she has a 16-year-old daughter that has a mental illness and says she hasn't had a date with her husband in a year because she

can't get anybody to watch their kids for a couple of hours so they can have a date. we are not going to fix america because we elect some big shot in washington. [applause] the bigwigs. they all wore the bigwigs. fortunately i don't need a wig. [laughter] if we don't have economic growth in america nothing matters. everything falls apart. the community is hurt. i will do everything i can to get the jobs going. there are only three things that matter, jobs, jobs, jobs. i want to send welfare, education, infrastructure, job training, and medicaid back to the state. i want you to run those programs, not me, not washington.

[applause] when i say we are going to take 104 federal education programs, and send them to the states people go crazy. , you think this is dependent on sending those programs that here? i want to help you. you want to fix education and run to the school board, you want to talk to the school board members doing their job. kids need skills to be able to compete in the 21st century. stop waiting for somebody to come riding in here on a white charger and start fixing things where we live. that is america. [applause] right here. >> you are way too modest.

gov. kasich: i have never been accused of that. [laughter] >> i have followed your career. my family is from johnstown, pennsylvania. gov. kasich: that is a shot and a beer town. do you know what that means? >> i went to a place like you did called ohio state. i can name everybody ran against. -- eu ran against. you were in my district. this man does what he says he does. there are no stories, i know the people that have built your house, where they live, and -- gov. kasich: they should have made the kids bathroom bigger. [laughter] >> the underlying tone on a lot of these issues is the socialistic attitude is starting to exist in this country.

that nobody has personal rights anymore, it is everybody's rights. everybody is not everybody. we have our own personal issues. but the socialistic movement scares me. we have two socialists running on the other side of the aisle. one of them has come out and admitted he is. what can we do about this as republicans? gov. kasich: good, and this is it because i have to go. i think we should start with free ben & jerry's. [laughter] [applause] they are bernie's biggest backers. if things are going to be free, let's have free ice cream for a year. check it out. [applause] and do not skimp on the new york fudge chunk.

these young people that are here, are you a socialist young lady? why are you not? give her this, i want her to talk. >> because i've worked to be where i am today. [applause] gov. kasich: if bernie sanders is the democrat nominee, we will win 49 states. but we have to have a candidate that presents the vision. why is it i'm beating hillary clinton by 11 points? crossover votes. my father, who was a democrat all his lifetime, was a conservative democrat. there were conservative democrats that were supporting reagan. we are americans before anything

else. [applause] we will leave the campaign stop at this point. the house is about to gavel in four short speeches on any topic , legislative work starts at 2:00 p.m. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's rooms, washington, d.c. february 29, 2016. i hereby appoint the honorable mac thornberry, to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, paul d. ryan, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 5, 2016, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. the chair will alternate recognition between the parties