georgetown. get comfortable. we want to have a real conversation here today. as you know before i came here, i was with the democratic national committee. speaker ryan: i heard about that. [laughter] >> oftentimes we were talking about you but never thought about what we would do if we were sitting or face-to-face having a conversation. that conversation is so important. the students are ready for you. i have seen a few other questions, not all. they are ready to have a real dialogue. here is how it will work. we have the students up here who have submitted questions. we have some students who submitted questions via social media, and then we have students in the audience, many of whom want to ask questions. we will rotate through. for those of you in the audience, we will have a microphone stand in the center

aisle. begin lining up now i would recommend if you have questions. while they do that and do not filibuster the answers. while we do that, we will cost this over to let her asked the first question. >> i want to get one thing out of the way. it is a question on everyone's mind. i would like a yes or no answer. you can solve this today finally. are the packers going to go all the way? speaker ryan: heck yeah they are. absolutely. [laughter] [applause] >> stop asking him. speaker ryan: we need a tight end and then we are good. >> i agree. i was covering the youth vote for over a decade and it was not long ago that i was a youth voter. if you talk to young voters like i do, you'll hear a similar complaint that over the years, democrats have paid her two -- pandered to young voters and

republicans have ignored them altogether. why should the millennials in this room, the largest generation in history, and millennials all over the country think that they are going to do anything different? speaker ryan: first of all, you should want to be competed for and not taken advantage of. -- not taken for granted. second of all, you want to find who is a conviction person and who is not. who is telling you what they actually believe. by the way, you will get a pretty good bs monitor as you watch this more and more who means what they say. the key is the person who is running for office saying what they are going to do. if they get elected, are they going to do it ? that is what matters. is it just bluster or are they doing what they said they would do? are they pushing the cause and

fighting for the idea? the last thing i wanted to say is get beyond emotion. don't base your decisions on emotions or make your arguments based on emotions. go deeper than that. go to reason. base your decisions based on reason, logic, principal. find out if a person actually has that, if they are taking their decisions and filtering them to a set of principles that have been offered solutions so they are going in a consistent direction so they are not pandering or being simply a populist or running in circles. that to me is what i found helpful when you are hard to judge whether or not a person has earned your support. >> let's go to the students. our first question we will take from up here on the riser. as to all students who get a chance to ask a question, please begin by telling us your name, your school, your class to your major, where you are from. think you can keep all of that straight? you are georgetown students. you can do it. a question from megan.

>> hi, my name is megan. i am a second-year graduate student in the mccourt school. i am from south jersey outside philadelphia. thank you for joining us today. secretary clinton and senator sanders has spent a long time on the campaign trail discussing student debt and college affordability, which is undoubtedly a rising issue for many here today. both of them seem to have specific proposals on how to prevent this problem from perpetuating, but i'm not sure we have heard this and level of detail and commitment from republicans. what are republicans going to do to seriously and in a timely manner address this problem? speaker ryan: first i would be wary of empty promises that are not paid for. [applause] [laughter]

sorry, dnc man, i have not made any promises. look at inflation and tuition. no offense, georgetown, but look at inflation. is just like this in health care, too. we have a third party payment system. we are writing you up with debt. there have been really good studies and ohio university. when the government puts money into the system, the college ends up cranking up the price and sticking you with the debt. how do you deal with this? number one, we need better metrics. we need transparency. and my getting value from education? to people who get this education at this institution get the jobs and careers in their field? was the success rate of that? what do i earn after doing this?

let's have a real conversation. the second point i would make is we should not have nationalized the student loan industry in 2010. it has been nationalized, and now we are on the hook as taxpayers for about $1 trillion of debt. default rates are through the roof. after college, i waited tables, and i was a fitness trainer on the weekends so i can make a little extra cash and get a free membership. [laughter] i got my loans at a great nonprofit in madison, wisconsin. every time i got a new job or different payment, they would adjust it to work with me so i can meet my loans. we don't do that now. we have a government agency, the department of education, giving you the one-size-fits-all cookie-cutter loan, and the default rates are through the roof and taxpayers are on the hook. getting more competition in every sense of the word.

among colleges and in student lending. why are you spending money on these things? are we getting value for our tuition? let us bring up the cartels even get credit from other places and apply it. can i bring a two-year degree in? are there online alternatives? i love this college. you have had some awesome basketball teams. it is top world-class, but not everybody can afford a place like this. so how do we get this kind of education within reach of people who have no chance? that means more competition, not less. [applause] >> let's take an audience question. i want to remind you please

state your name, class, hometown. please, questions not comments. >> my name is devon. i'm a second-year student from unincorporated lake county, florida. your colleague, candice miller for michigan, had all state flags removed from the capital tunnel. this is a result of the fact that many southern states have confederate symbols in them. could you please comment on this renewed northern republican reconstruction. and the aspects of southern -- erasure of southern symbols as well as well the ostracization of southern voters by the gop. >> i have never looked at it that way. yes, i am from wisconsin, so guilty as a northerner. mississippi is still going to be represented because we are bringing the point that for each of the states.

-- commemorative coins up for each of the states. here's the issue. i think nikki haley did the right thing. and we may not agree, but the symbol does insult. this symbol does more to divide this country than to unify this country. as a states rights person, it's up to the states to decide these things. but i have to tell you, if in the capital we are going to have symbols that unify people and not divide people. that is just the way we think. [applause] >> our next question comes from twitter. georgetown student rachel.

who is a first-year student from chicago illinois. >> there she is. >> rachel asked what prompted you to reconsider your previous statements on poor people as takers. speaker ryan: i was just wrong. [applause] i did not mean offense. obviously i'm a conservative, have a libertarian streak, i believe in limited government and upward mobility and opportunity. but, there are people -- my own family went through this. there are people were knocked down in life, and they need help. government has a very important role to play in that. and to lump an entire category of people suffering into one large category is wrong i think. so if you do something that is wrong instead of just trying to

spin yourself out of it, just own up to it and fess up, and fix it. and that's i did. [applause] >> we have another question from the stage. connor. >> mr. speaker, thank you again for being with us today. i'm a junior in the college of majoring in government. originally from barrington , illinois. my question to you is, i have been very dismayed by this years election so far, i will never support donald trump. and ted cruz does very little to appeal to me as a young voter. i asked you what advice or reasons for optimism could you offer to young republicans such as myself who find it very difficult to support either of the two leading candidates for a party's nomination.

speaker ryan: unfortunately this is not the first time i've had this question. [laughter] as you know, i'm chair of the convention. i did not learn about this until i had become speaker of the house, so i'm very neutral on this. i'm not trying to push you one way or another. i would look at the ideas. look at the platform that is being advanced. look at the agenda project that we are advancing, which by the way we decided in the house before the presidential election get started when we had 17 candidates. look at what it is we are presenting to the country later this early summer before even. cleveland. five things in our agenda. where there is common ground and we can get things done, do it. we are passing a bill this week but says the government cannot just take your e-mails without a warrant.

we are fixing things where we can find common ground, but there are a lot of things where we don't. look at the policies, not the person necessarily. what does patients had a health care look like? we don't think the affordable care act is working. newsflash, republicans are against obamacare. we owe it to people to show what we would replace it with. we have to show what we would do differently. by the way, if we do not fix our entitlement programs, you will receive an inferior future. you will receive an amount not that no american generation has ever received. it will guarantee your living standards are lower. our generation better fix this problem now, we helped create it, so that your generation can be free and prosperous.

you better support getting on top of our budget problems. we think we have better ideas, we are fighting property, we think we should compete, we have welfare programs that have worked, we think our national security is a mess. we had to have a doctrine and a philosophy and a military that is capable of fixing that. and the last when i was a, which i really believe transcends party labels is, we need to restore the constitution and the article one of the constitution. but that means is, the laws that we live under should be written by we our elected representatives. this is not just obama's fault, although he has taken it to a new level, we have this fourth branch of government, unelected bureaucrats writing our rules, writing or regulations, that

govern our society. that determine our business is run, her schools were, governs almost everything we do. and guess what i, as your member of congress have no say over this. laws are not being written by us through our elected representatives. one of the foundational principles of this country is that we are self-governing people. we believe in self-determination. we believe in govern our consent of the governed. we are losing that. we have a lot of ideas for restoring that. these five things, economic growth, entitlement health-care reform, upward mobility and welfare reform national , security, and restoring self-government, are ideas that i think are animating, they are necessary for saving this country, and by the way, we think it gets better press. -- gets us on a better track. in front of you is not a vote for a person, a political personality, in front of you if

we do our jobs right way will be a choice of two paths that you could take. do you want to stay in the status quo, already once you're a different direction? we all you that choice. you that choice. that is the choice you will have far more than a personality. republicans lose personality contests anyway. we always do. i have learned that lesson the hard way. [laughter] but we win ideas contest. i would just ask you to raise your gaze and look at the horizon that we are trying to paint. and look at the agenda we are offering you, so that the people of this country get to choose which path we take. [applause] >> hello, speaker ryan. my name is michael, i'm a junior studying government and economics. i'm from suburban arizona just outside of phoenix. building off of your answer to connor's question about choosing between two paths.

that happens a lot at the state level. in my state of arizona republicans control the governorship and both statehouses, we have seen some of your ideas but to the tests were government is getting up people's backs by cutting taxes and/or regulations. yet teachers are leaving arizona and groups. kansas republicans are not seeing the economy grow, in fact there are some open revolts against the governor. how can you asked me to support these things nationally when i look back at some of these states? it doesn't seem to be working. [applause] speaker ryan: i know sam brownback well. i know they've had a pretty successful business growth there.

let's just take taxes for example. we are taxing ourselves, our businesses at a much higher rate than our foreign competitors are taxing there's overseas. the canadians are taxing all of their businesses at 15%. companies are taxed at 35%. we are killing ourselves. this is why all of these businesses are leaving and going overseas or foreign companies are buying u.s. businesses. yes, we have to get our tax rates down. it is so important. for american competitiveness, for jobs, for businesses to stay here. i think we can make a very successful case for this philosophy, but the point i would say is, because we believe

in limited government does not we believe in no government. we want government to be effective. we don't want government to stretch itself beyond where it should be. that means we and our communities and our schools, and our businesses, we make more decisions for ourselves and we solve problems ourselves, organically from the bottom up in an open economy instead of government making commanding controlling decisions. we learned that these economies leads to cronyism, bureaucracy, it slows things down, it stops operability. that is why i would argue for a very limited government that helps our american workers. our businesses be more competitive. so yes, i think we need lower tax rates. and by the way with the deficit have, you better hope we get our spending under control because you're going to get hit with a debt that is just crazy. i was a one more point. we have run the federal government for the last 60 years -- i'm rounding here -- at about 20% gdp.

i asked the congressional budget office number of years ago what would the tax rates have to be on the next generation when my kids are having their grandkids, they said the lowest tax rate for lower-income people which is right now 50% is going to go to 25%. middle income tax rate will go to 66%. and the top tax rate would have to go to 80%. and then in the next sentence they said this type negative effects on the economy at that time. the point i'm trying to make is, it is not as if we are standing still here, we are heading in the wrong direction. we are on the wrong path, making american businesses in our economy less and less composite which means fewer jobs, slower economic growth, let's take pay,

less economic security. so we do have to limit our governments to begin focusing on what it is supposed to do. and doing it well. yes these theories do work. when you lower tax rates especially in global competition, it helps, it works, it is successful. maybe it is the difference between federal and state government, but we are in a global economy whether we like it or not, and we better be globally competitive. i would argue and a lot of fronts, we are not. [applause] >> lets take another question from the stage. will. >> hi i'm will. i'm a senior in the college of government major. my question is, many young people worry about climate change and its potential negative impact.

yet many americans, especially fossil fuel industry where it the negative economic consequences. from climate change related policy. how do politicians decide whether to prioritize and -- the worries of a middle-aged worker at a coal plant for instance, or individuals like us and our children who will have to deal with the negative consequences of climate change much more severely? speaker ryan: so, do we have to be forced in a trade-off between the two? i would like to think that we don't have to do that. that we don't have to trade one for the other. that we don't have to trade prosperity for today for a better environment. why don't we try and work with both of these together. so take all for example, the old way of burning coal was pretty darn dirty. so we had clean coal technologies. let's make sure it is been appeared by the way we do that, why don't we invest in basic scientific research to interview -- to innovate our way into a

cleaner economy. this is why don't support various ideas like cap and trade or carbon taxes, because what they basically do is harm our economy. they make our manufacturers so less competitive, and their shots go to other countries like china or india, who aren't doing anything to fix this generally speaking. and they will just pump more contaminated air in the atmosphere and take our jobs. why don't we focus on getting faster economic growth, cleaning up hour act, natural gas is an incredible bridge deal, we gotten a lot of it now. and let's invest in research. this is one of the things people don't realize about us is, in

the last budget agreement we did, our big interest was saving our military from another round of sequestration. but the domestic spending equation of this is, as we put more money into research. more money into scientific research on fusion. how to get new clear energy so -- nuclear energy so that we have renewable i know ways. these are the kind of things that we should do instead of forcing bad ideas on an economy. that coal miner in eastern ohio was trying to feed his family and create a future for himself, we don't have to trade the things off. that is why i'm not supportive of the ideas of doing that rather than taking the innovation approach. [applause] >> let's go take another question off of twitter. matt who is a senior in the college from kentucky majoring in government. majoring in biology and economics. the 2013 gop autopsy demanded outreach to latino voters.

why do you promise not to work on immigration before november? speaker ryan: because i think the president poisoned the well. i know that sounds like a finger-pointing exercise. this is an immigration system that needs to be fixed. this is a nation of immigrants. my name is ryan. i'm here because of potato growers in ireland. our family made it, and each generation has had more opportunities. that is a beautiful story this country. we had an opportunity in the last session that we lost. to get immigration reform. we asked the president don't do this decisive executive order.

work with us. what did the president two? before we even started the new session with the new congress, he did this executive order. which throws into a court battle which we just had oral arguments yesterday. as soon as soon as he made the move, he throws into a court battle over constitutionality of the executive branch going alone and writing laws without congress writing those laws. we knew that the well would be poisoned, and yes perhaps a political advantage is being happier, but there is an opportunity that had been lost now because of this. this will have to wait until the next president because when you have a tense relationship like this where president is going around congress and trying to unilaterally write laws, violating the constitution, it does not make for the kind of working relationship you need.

the last thing i'll say that this is, people -- those of us who are in congress when a lot of time with our constituents. i was during a town hall last night. i just cannot understate how concerned people are about national security. how concerned people are about the fact that the borders are not secured. this is about heroin, an opiate, this is about isis, it is not about a demographic, is not about latinas, it is not all about that. one of my longest-serving employees who helps me with my latino outreach. it is not about that, it is about the rule of law. it is about this country knowing who is coming in who is going, and then getting these laws right so that they work. i have been working on immigration reform a long time, since before i was elected to congress. we need to have reforms that are lasting. we tried fixing this in 1996, that did not work we started with 1986, that did not work, then he went to 1996. we have not been able to fix it. and we have to come together and figure this out, but i don't think that this year is going to happen because of the executive amnesty and the run around congress and how that poisoned the well and sent us into a court battle.

we had our lawyer in court just a week ago arguing these cases based on the rule of law. at the end of the day, we need to fix this problem, it is broken, and don't forget the rule of law and security is paramount to have that first as a confidence building measure to make sure that people really believe that laws will be enforced, so that when we do immigration reform is lasting. it actually works for a long time to come. >> we are talking about millennials today. we're talking about young people. there are a lot of young people out there who are worried about a family member being deported. they may have just heard your answer and heard a lot of process about executive orders in the president, speak to that first. person.

>> the way to solve a problem is speaker ryan: the way to solve a problem is not to treat the symptoms, the way to solve a problem is to solve the root cause of the problem. the root cause of the problem is a fundamentally broken system. it is a system that we don't know who is coming and going this country. and in a day of heroin and isis and drug cartels, it is a real threat to our national security. we are in the middle of writing on this legislation because his problem coming from aborted. -- coming from our borders. and if we can fix the root cause of fixing immigration laws, and i'm a person who believes that for the undocumented we have to come up with a solution that does not involve mass deportation. we have to resolve a solution that allows people to get legal status. there are industries i can't find people, and also lets make sure that people who can't find jobs were americans get those jobs first.

we have to make sure we get these details right. it is not quick and easy. if we treat the root cause of the problem, then the symptoms like the fear of your family being broken up will be solved if we get to the root cause of these things. [applause] >> let's take another question from the audience. >> thank you for being here as a speaker. i'm a freshman in the college studying government and chinese. and i'm from san francisco. a lot of republicans, yourself included, have talked about the fact that you want to repeal obamacare. not only do you want to do that, but obviously have to have something that comes after that. and that this plan has to be very specific and they have to give reasonable alternative to the current system.

one of the things that obamacare has given especially to my family and other people has been that you can no longer discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions. if you get rid of obamacare, will the new republican policy specifically have a stipulation that continues this? or will people and the republican alternative have to get rid of their health care because they have a pre-existing condition? speaker ryan: i think we can do a better job of getting at this problem. which is people with pre-existing conditions mean people cannot buy affordable coverage or when they get sick they go bankrupt. we can and must fix that. i think the solution that was in this law does not work. the reason i think it doesn't work is because it is making other people needlessly pay for health insurance that is far too expensive for them.

and we are making people buy insurance co. said they don't need or want. the smarter way in my opinion, is that we as a society make a decision that the government level that we will buck up and subsidize those people with pre-existing conditions. so let me give you a view of this, for the under 65 population, a less than 10% of the people under 65 are in what we call people with pre-existing conditions. who are really kind of uninsurable. let's fund pools at the state level to subsidize their coverage so that they can get affordable coverage. those subsidies kick in to prevent you from bankruptcy. and you know what it does for the other 90 plus percent of americans, pools covering them don't have to go and cover this event of a catastrophically expensive health insurance policy.

and you genetically lower the price for everybody else. you make health insurance so much more affordable, and open up competition. right now, under obamacare, i'm 46, i stay in shape, my dad died of a heart attack near his young when he was young. my next-door neighbor can drink a case of beer each night, not run, be 100 pounds overweight, and of the law, you can't reward a person for better behavior. you can't have incentives to be healthier. that makes no sense. we are taking the insurance industry and turning it into a government corporation. we are giving people no choices. we are taking away competition. it is not working.

i met with some actuaries in other day who tell us that obamacare is failing to years -- two years ahead of schedule. what they meant when they say that is, is that all that is happening now are people who were sick are buying insurance, banking of the price, and people were young who are low and middle income, can't afford the insurance. we can fix this. that to me -- on your point, open up underwriting. have more insurance companies, have more competition, and just pay for the person with a pre-existing condition to make sure they get affordable coverage when that moment happens. and make it much more compatible for everybody else. i think it is the smartest way to do it economically. it gives people more freedom, more choices, and then we have more of a patient centered health care system. not some crony government run, top-down bureaucratic unaffordable system like we are having today. [applause] >> i would really like you to

adjust for this millennial audience the question of why tax reform should matter to this generation. and speaking your love language on taxes and the economy. speaker ryan: first of all, then i became in this job, so i think about ways -- it means a lot. the reason i took this job and i wanted to get this job, as i've always believed that one of the worst manifestations of the federal government are politically influence, is the tax code. right now the tax code is full of different provisions that are put there by the well-connected. by interest groups. what that means is, let's say you have a base of income in america that is this big, and you put all of these loopholes in the tax code that narrows the tax rate this much.

then you have to have tax rates that much higher to raise an equivalent amount of money for the government. but, if we take loopholes out of the code, and we can lower rates for everybody, we, as a couple of things. we make workers, families, and businesses better off and more competitive, especially in the global economy, but more to the point, it is your money, you should make a decision what you want to do with it. instead of sending your money to washington and then some interest group and a member of congress put some loophole in there. and they will let you keep some of your money back if you engage in behavior that they approval. that means we have a really complicated system with an agency that is not a great agency in my opinion of messing up people's lives, and making

our economy much less competitive. so if we can get the cronyism out, pull these provisions out, lower our rates, let you keep more of urine money, and you -- more of your own money and , you decide what you want to do with it, and by the way it makes our economy more competitive, it helps american businesses stay american. we are losing the biggest public we traded company wisconsin because they are buying a company which is headquartered in ireland. and they are therefore becoming an irish company. you know what happens when this happens? the loyalties and up going. the allegiances go. the headquarters go. and there goes the philanthropy, there goes the foundations. there goes the great jobs. that has happened across this economy. ireland taxes are businesses at 12 and a half percent.

we are between 35 and a size 44.6%. china's at 25. england is going down to 20. if we want to be competitive, if we want to have good jobs and a faster growing economy, more control over our lives and the decision to do what we want to do with our money, and more headquarters in america so we can get good jobs of those headquarters, whatever it is, we have to get tax reform. it is really a big deal. the last point i will say is, the way we tax our system internationally telling us. all of the other countries say if you make money overseas, you pay that overseas country tax rate, and then you bring your money home and there you go. we don't do it that way. we say -- take harley davidson. you sell the harley davidson and france, but if you want to bring it back to the american factor, you have to pay the american taxpayer what happens, they don't take the money home.

it stays overseas. no other country does that. we have got to fix the thing so we can take the $2 trillion of capital that is sitting every overseas that could be redeployed in our economy. that is why we need to have tax reform. [applause] >> let's take another question from the riser. this next one comes from joel. >> mr. speaker, thanks for coming. welcome back to torso. -- to georgetown. my name is joel. i'm majoring in economics. and i'm from canton ohio. just a month ago you gave a speech to capital and turn such as myself and in it you touched on the growing political positions.

things that nowadays everybody on both sides of the aisle tend to see each other as more as enemies than as people with to cooperate. what i wanted to know was, what do you see back home on the ground in your district of wisconsin rather than here in bc that you believe is the root cause of these divisions? and more importantly what can we young people do to fix this problem? speaker ryan: i worry about this a lot. i know i look really young. this is my 18th year in congress. i have never seen the well poisoned as much as it is these days. i have not seen the kind of vitriol and bitterness in our politics like we have today. i have to say i think it is both sides. i would love to say this is democrats, but is not. it's both. i think one of the sources of this problem, is what is referred to as identity politics. it has become viewed as a successful political strategy to pray on a person's identity and

speak to them in a way that divides them from another person. so that you can get enough of your groups that you are speaking to to be 50 plus one and when an election. unfortunately, both sides are playing game. all ends up doing is dividing us of the country. so we are speaking to each other in ways that divide us. i see this wisconsin, i see this wherever you go. we are having the kinds of political discussions in america today where people are losing friendships over these things. it does not have to be that way. so how do you fix that? i think leaders fix this. we have not had that kind of leadership lately. leaders need to say here is my principal, here's my solution, let's try and do it in a way that is inclusive. that is optimistic, that is aspirational, that is focusing on solutions.

so what is going on right now, i think it is just because your primaries, both sides, the democratic party is in a big primary and republican parties in a big primary. there is a lot of anger out there. why is that? 45 million people in poverty. national security is a mess. people are really anxious. this anxiety has got to be channeled. right now in the primaries, it is being accelerated and exacerbated. in my own view,, the guy who got me basically into doing this, jack kemp my mentor, had a different view of these things. i was brought into politics that way which is speak to our common humanity.

fight for ideas, fight for principles, don't install the motives and the integrity of the other person. to your point, i do not always get it right myself. we all have to work to improve ourselves on these things, but i think leaders need to lead with aspirational politics that are inclusive, focus on principles, apply them to the problems of the day, and get people solutions, and then let voters decide. that to me is the kind of election we should have, and that is not exactly where we are right now. i'm hoping it if you must get there. >> i think we have time for one more question from the audience. >> hi, mr. speaker. i'm a junior the college and i'm majoring in government and history. and i'm from new orleans. my question for you is, when i first started getting into politics, as a freshman in high school.

the big issue that everyone was talking about, and you are one of those leading voices on this was the national debt. the national debt is now $19 trillion. i have had to explain to a bunch of liberal friends even at georgetown the repercussions of that. why is the national debt no longer a buzzword in the election? i'm frankly surprised did not even mention it here? what do we need to do to let people know how big of a deal that is going to be fried -- for our generation? speaker ryan: i'm pretty sure i mentioned it. that's what i was talking about. it is basically the health-care entitlements that are the drivers of our debt. please know that that is a high priority. my own view on this is that the person who wrote most of our budget is that we have pastor offered, this is your generations big fight.

prior generations, boomers, i'm an x-generation, have wrecked up a debt that if we don't get this under control, you are going to have a lower quality of life. that is what i'm he might talk -- that is what i mean when i talk about the debt. the point i would make is, the sooner we act on this, the better off everybody is. the sooner we tax all the drivers of our debt, which are these entitlement programs, medicare, medicaid, obamacare. those are what we call mandatory spendings, entitlement programs. that is the autopilot part of our government spending which is getting to be two thirds. all revenue will go to that. the problem we have is, there is no way the government mobile to sustain these programs. we are then going to have to cut these programs in real time, think of the social chaos that occurs when that happens. my cabin in europe and greece. our point is, and is part of our agenda, let's get on the now.

why the way, if we do this now, then we can solve it on our terms of the country in such a way that doesn't affect and retirement. my mom is 80, why should we pull the rug out from her after she has worked and paid her taxes. let's keep that intact, but for those of us, for your generation the millennial generation, our generation the x generation, let's fix these problems prospectively, so that we have these benefits for us will be retired. but we're going to have to change these programs. make them more 21st century. more open, more competitive, so that they are there for us and we were tired.

and also so we can keep the promise to those who already retired. believe me i tried to get a deal for a long time this president. i just don't think progressives are interested in the kind of budget solutions you have to have an order to fix this problem. i'm not saying this is just republican/democrat. two great democrat friends of mine agree with the kind of solutions on talking about. i believe that there is a coalition of republicans and what i would call moderate/conservative democrats like and fixes that problem on our terms of the country. it makes his programs are better for the future. take the promise of people already in their retirement. and we have to do it soon, otherwise the debt will get out

of control, and we will be doing surgery for the bond markets. and it is going to rip up the socialization and be chaotic. that is the point i keep making. you are right though, it has not been talked about enough. it has been glossed over. because we have a half a train dollar deficit we think are in like half times. just say no, with 10,000 people retiring every day, this day for the next 10 years at that rate, and a couple of years, we go back to trillion dollar deficits for as far as the eye can see in the never come back down. it is because of the retirement of america. when you have a 90% retirement rate of americans, but only a 19% rate of young people going into the workforce to pay for those programs, therein lies the problem. we have got to get ahead of this. we are offering solutions. in five years we have pacifying effects of this out of the house. it is part of our agenda. we're going to take his agenda to the country, immigrant gas the country for permission. here's our solution is found. here is why we are proposing this rate. if you choose this by supporting us, then we are asking for the mandate to do in 2017.

that is what i think is necessary to have a clarifying mandate the selection to give us the political wherewithal in order to fixes problems and 2017 so we can get on this problem and fix it while it is still within our own control. that is why we're doing what we are doing and i pursue the -- i appreciate the question. [applause] >> we could keep doing this all day. there is so many more people who have questions. unfortunately, our time is up. mr. speaker, thank you so much for coming. speaker ryan: appreciate it. thank you. [applause] >> i also want to say to my -- think my fellow co-moderator. he been such a big boost of the institute and we are glad to have you here.

and for helping bring this guy on campus. >> my pleasure. >> most importantly i want to thank all of you. and speaker i don't agree on a lot of policy prescriptions but , we do agree that is going to be up to you guys and we need you to be engaged. so thank you. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> road to the white house government continues, we bring you the indiana primary today. live primary results, candidate speeches, you were a reaction to tonight's primary. that's the c-span network shortly after the polls closed. if you seven republicans and 92 democratic delegates in the hoosier state. hillary clinton is in ohio on a campaign swing through kentucky, west virginia, and ohio. speechn athens giving a about jobs and the economy. i also want to mention senator bernie sanders, campaigning in kentucky. live coverage of his kentucky in louisville starts at 7:30

eastern time here on the c-span networks. this morning, we spoke with a reporter covering the indiana primary. host: thanks for joining us. and the all important delegate count, what does it mean for indiana terms of delegates, both for republicans and democrats? guest: it's especially important on the republican side, where this is sort of ted cruz's last best chance to stop donald trump and lock up the nomination and prevents a contested convention. trump -- is not possible for him to reach the number he needs today. but looking ahead to the states that are going to be voting, between now and the convention, indiana really is, for ted cruz, one of his last best chances to try and halt donald trump, especially with the momentum the trunk has coming off of the win in new york and five other mid-atlantic in northeastern states.

host: how many republican delegates are involved, and how are they apportioned? guest: there are 57 delegates at stake in indiana today. most of those are winner take all. whoever wins statewide will win 30 of those delegates. the other 27 delegates are divvied out to the winner of each of indiana's nine congressional districts. each congressional district has three delegates up for grabs. so it's possible that one of the other candidates who doesn't win could get 3, 6, 9 delegates.

but most of the delegates will be awarded to the winner. which is why it's pretty high stakes here in indiana. host: as far as polling is concerned, on the republican side who is ahead? , guest: most of the polls are showing donald trump as a lead. one shows ted cruz in the lead, but i think there is more than half a dozen others that show trump in the lead. he is leading here, but the polling has been erratic. it's hard to know how much stock to put in those. host: mr. cook, we saw indiana's governor endorsed ted cruz, we saw him choose carly fiorina. any of those showing any momentum for ted cruz? guest: it's hard to say, it's been wild, that's for sure. this week, he is starting to deal with john kasich, where he agreed not to campaign here, and ted cruz agreed not to campaign in these two western states.

that shook things up little bit, at least, ted cruz was hoping it would, turning it into the first two-man race of the primary season. and then he announced that carly fiorina would be his running mate, which is pretty unprecedented. candidates don't typically do that until after they locked up the nomination. and then more recently, he announced -- governor pence here in indiana endorsed ted cruz. it's been almost daily efforts from ted cruz to shake up this race and try to gain an ad share on trump. -- an edge on trump. i think today is the poll that is going to tell us whether those efforts are working or not. host: before we let you go, on the democratic side, hillary clinton has a lead they are in indiana. what did that mean for

democrats, and have we seen a lot of effort from both hillary clinton and bernie sanders in the state? guest: you seem more effort from bernie sanders, although both candidates have been there several times. for sanders, it's an opportunity for him to try and slow hillary's -- what seems at this point to be a pretty sure bet for her getting the nomination. but indiana has a lot of factory workers, a lot of those workers are finding bernie's message appealing. it is closer here that it has been in some of the other states. for sanders, this is really an opportunity to try and make sure that his message stays out there, that he plays a role in shaping the message of the nominating process moves forward. host: tony cook with the indianapolis star, talking about the primary that takes place in indiana today.

thank you for your time. guest: thank you. is 48 hours of nonfiction authors on c-span to every single weekend. ofcovers the wide array everything from nonfiction books on history, we have biographies, even set -- science topics. >> it's one of the few places, if not the only place, you will able -- be able to see and hear a lot of voices and perspectives on different topics. we bring in well-known authors and authors you might not know so well. they have a story to tell, they have something to say, and we bring that opportunity to our viewers here. >> paul, you are on. feedback isrs and really vital the c-span in general. that's part of our mission statement, trying to get viewers to participate. >> we spend a lot of time trying to think about what we think our

viewers would want. who they want to hear, what they want to see. we take that into account what we are looking at different authors. we will have programs so we can bring viewers into the mix. they want to talk to these authors as well. .> we have tweets and facebook >> only go out to festivals and get live programs, that's an opportunity for audiences to interact with the author. and have them answer their questions or share their comments with the authors. >> we know there are so many people around the country that are really big readers and interested in history and biography. not just about having author get up on the stage for on-screen and tell you what to think or tell you the history as they are saying it is, it's about viewers actually asking questions and it's about that conversation.

wants more viewer information on book tv, and go see our website, book tv.org. we have our schedule for the weekend, always available. can see all the different programs we offer in-depth and afterwards, a general schedule for the weekend. that's all on book tv.org. 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 room, washington, d.c., may 3, 2016. i hereby appoint the honorable thomas j. rooney to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, paul d. ryan, speaker of the house of representatives.

the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. haplain conroy: let us pray. gracious and merciful god, we give you thanks for giving us another day. in this chamber, where the people's house gathers, we pause to offer you gratitude for the gift of this good land on which we live and for this great nation, which you have inspired in developing over so many years. continue to inspire the american people that through the difficulties of these days we might keep liberty and justice alive in our nation and in the world. give to us and all people a vivid sense of your presence that we may learn to understand each other, to respect each other, to work with each other, to live with each other and to do good to each other.

so shall we make our nation great in goodness and good in its greatness. may all that is done this day be for your greater honor and glory. amen. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 30-a of house resolution 707, the proceedings of the last day's proceedings is approved. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. pursuant to section 3-d of house resolution 706, the house stands adjourned until 9:00 a.m. on friday, may 6,

i am talking about the region because of the election but to be honest , in the broader region, this isn't one where a lot of democrats running for president tend to win a lot of votes these days. and i know that there are people in this region, i met with some of them yesterday, who find it hard thinking about voting for any democrat or voting for me particularly but i'm going to keep trying to convince people otherwise. but that's not what there trip

is about. i'm here because i do want to be your president because i believe that our best years can still be ahead of us. am absolutely sure of that and it will require what all of us do, being inspired by that spirit that has animated american history, that we don't just diagnosis our problems and complain about them, we roll up our sleeves and we solve them. and for me learning more about the lives of the people here and about what you want for your futures is critical to what kind of president i would like to be. there's nothing i take more seriously than that. so i've said to people, i'm going to try to earn every vote i can, and even if people don't vote for me in november, i'm going to be with them and with you every single day.

so let me be clear, at a time when our energy sector is changing rapidly, we need to invest in coal communities. we need to figure out how to bring new jobs and industries to them and we need to stand up to the coal company executives trying to shirk their responsibilities to their workers and retirees. [applause] the facts are clear. the energy market is changing here in america and around the world, but coal is still part of our energy supply. although it produces far less f our electricity than it once did. even china is starting to burn less coal. that's good for the planet, but it has hurt american coal exports from this region. and no matter what some

politicians tell you, these trends are here to stay. you got solar panels, don't you, art, on top of this brewery? we're not going to go back to an energy system that looks like it did in the 20th century. we know we need to protect our children's health and futures by combating climate change and accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy. [applause] but that is still a transition. anyone who pretends we can flip a switch and be in the clean energy future tomorrow isn't being honest with you either. so we need to try everything we can to cut carbon pollution. that includes supporting cutting edge work being done right here in appalachian, in institutions, working on carbon

capture and sequestration technology. this is too important to take any possible solution off the table. i believe if we're going to go around the country talking about the benefits of a clean energy economy, which i have done for more than a year, then we have a responsibility to come to this region of our country and look people in the eye and talk about what that eally means for your lives and livelihoods. the impact on appalachia is compounded by other economic challenges. the chinese are dumping cheap steel in our markets, trying to fix their domestic economic problems on the backs of american workers. and a lot of families still haven't recovered from the great recession, which wiped out jobs, homes and savings. yesterday, i met a man named bo

in west virginia. he was in a maintenance planner in a mining operation in migo county. he lost his job last fall. he showed me a picture of his three beautiful little children -- a son and two daughters -- and said he was trying to keep on a brave face for them so they wouldn't worry how he and his wife are. west virginians are proud people, bo said. we take pride in our faith in god. we take pride in our family. we take pride in our jobs. we take pride in the fact that we're hard workers. so why, he asked, aren't there more programs in place already to help people like him? why isn't there more help to turn to? how are we going to get new jobs there not years from now but right now? i'll bet everybody in here knows somebody in the same boat

. and bo was really clear. he's a republican. he is not voting for me. [laughter] but i really don't care about that. we need to do better for bo and his family and families like his across appalachia and america, and that means -- [applause] that means coming together, making a real plan to invest in the foundations of a strong middle class, namely, good jobs and quality education for our kids and a level playing field for american workers. that's what my plan for revitalizing communities here will do. first, we got to honor our obligations to miners, past and present, and stand with the steelworkers who are fighting for their livelyhoods right

now. for months -- livelihoods right now. for months -- [applause] for months i've been speaking out against the coal companies like patriot and peabody that tried to shirk their responsibilities to workers and retirees. miners, power plant workers and railroad employees deserve the benefits they've earned and the respect of all americans. [applause] and among the 100,000 miners who died in the last century, we lost miners in this century too, who are joined with them in sacrifice. 29 brave men who perished at the upper big branch mine. he owner of that mine, don blankenship, had neglected workers' safety for years, and because of weak laws, when he

was finally caught, finally charged and finally convicted, he only received a one-year prison sentence. one year for 29 deaths. that is totally unacceptable. we need to strengthen those laws and hold executives who neglect workers' health and safety to account. that is why i support two bills in front of congress right now that share reference. the miners protection act and the mine safety protection act. they are critical. [applause] they are critical to keeping faith with coal communities and protecting workers' health and safety on the job. i hope the congress will pass them and the president will sign them as quickly as possible. nd by the way, i heard mr.

blankenship was outside my event yesterday protesting me. [laughter] well, if donald trump wants the support of someone like that, he can have it. [applause] and at a time when chinese cheating is killing american steel jobs, i am not going to leave our steelworkers to fend for themselves. as president, i'll make sure we step up and initiate cases against china before jobs are lost, not after, and i intend to appoint a special trade prosecutor and push for stronger rule of origin standards so chinese steel doesn't have a back door to american markets. for example, as part of foreign cars. [applause]

and i oppose any effort to grant so-called market economy status to china because it would weaken our ability to stop china from dumping cheap steel on the global markets. it's illegal and it's hurting american workers, and we've got to make it stop. i am so proud to be standing up here with your senator because he's been on the front lines of this, and together, share odd, we're going to -- sherrod, we're going to make it happen. [applause] second, we need to invest in creating more good-paying jobs here in appalachia. we know this region is rich in assets far beyond coal. we also know that economic development plans designed in washington without local input will not deliver results for you and your families. that's why i want to support locally driven priorities, not

sue plant them. my -- supplant them. my goal would have a new fund o support investments by appalachians for appalachians. when i was in migo county in williamson, i heard from members of the community who were talking about how they are trying to generate more small business to create more jobs. they started an incubator to help local entrepreneurs get new ventures off the ground. they knew they needed better housing infrastructure so they put people to work refurbishing homes and businesses. they realized that many of their neighbors were struggling with opioid addiction and other chronic health issues like diabetes, so they opened a nonprofit health clinic. meanwhile, the county there is stepping up by repurposing abandoned mine lands for new industrial park land that's bringing in and has the potential to bring in more big

employers. this is the kind of locally driven development that i think can really work. the federal government should do more to support it. across the river from williamson in kentucky, i learned about a company called bit source. it trained former miners to be computer programmers and matches them to jobs in eastern kentucky. silicon valley tech companies are learning about these miners' technical chops and hiring them. now, this is not a silver bullet by any means, but it is helping and we need to grow that kind of creative entrepreneurial approach. mix hardworking people with skills that are needed, create those jobs, attract investments. and i'll tell you what, with more access to fast, affordable, reliable broadband, we can do even more in this region. [applause]

i got to tell you eight years ago i spent a lot of time driving the roads of west virginia. i spent a lot of time yesterday and today riding the roads of west virginia. and you are disconnected. you are disconnected, though. i mean, west virginia deserves just as much broadband access as anyplace else in america and so does southern ohio and eastern kentucky and all the rest of the region. [applause] that is one of my goals. just like we had to finish electrifying the country because you know what happens. you get utilities, they'll go where the business is they don't want to be climbing mountains and crossing rivers to get to 10 people. they want to go to cities and suburbs where it's easy. they want to come to a great university like this one where you got a lot of users. we got to finish the job of connecting up america. [applause]

and i'm convinced when we do we're going to see a whole bunch of new small businesses and creative ideas to be put into action. and i do want to support what i learned about yesterday. let's repurpose abandoned mine lands and power plants to support new jobs like the industrial park in holden, west virginia, which makes wood products on the site of a former coal mine. and let's expand the new markets tax credit, something my husband started back in the 1990's, to steer investment and private enterprise more to appalachian. now, having a good -- more to appalachia. now, having a good job is more about having a good paycheck. it's about dignity and a sense of purpose. i don't want young people to have to leave home to find those things. i want them to be able to stay right here in this region, be near their family and friends and earn a good living, be able to give their kids a great life. you just shouldn't have to leave home when we are in such

a connected world now. so let's connect ourselves up, let's get creative and i know we can create a really bright future. and the third part of our plan r revitalizing appalachian communities is some form of advanced education. doesn't have to be college or university. it can be technical education, apprenticeships, community colleges but it makes a real difference. now, we are going to make community college free and give all young people -- [applause] the chance to graduate debt-free from any public college or university like the university of ohio. [applause] we will make it easier to pay off existing student debt, and if you're an entrepreneur, we'll let you defer your

student loan payments and pay no interest for up to three years while you get your business off the ground because i want young people to take advantage of those opportunities. [applause] i want to see young people be able to take advantage of incubators like isnet here in southeast ohio. it supports up to 30 startups every year. and if we multiply that, think of what we will create together . and we have to make sure that people who don't go to college get the education and training they need to get a good job. there are a lot of ways of doing that, but there are a lot of jobs out there. last number i saw was 1.2 million jobs for people with skills in the trades. welders, tool and dye, machinists and the like. now, those jobs are not all in the same place, obviously.

they're spread across the country, but when you think about that, the more people who have those skills, they could start their own businesses too. so we've got to really look hard at how we give every young pesh the chance to chart his or -- person the chance to chart his or her future. it starts with good schools and good teachers no matter what zip code your child lives in and that is -- [applause] that is a particular challenge for a lot of communities in the region because when mines close, power plants shut down, steel mills go idle, school districts lose tax revenue. look at what's happening in waterford, ohio. after a nearby power plant shut down, the school district lost more than $1 million out of a $7 million annual budget. they've had to lay off dozens of teachers, and that is just no way to give our kids the

education that they need. so i've been looking for ways that we can help and back in the 1990's when the timber industry was in decline in the pacific northwest, we started a federal program to keep local schools open as they faced declining tax revenues. let's make a similar commitment to ppalachian communities make sure that as steel and other factories have problems, it's not taken out on students and teachers. and we'll take a hard look at retraining programs and make sure they're actually delivering results for workers. the last thing anybody needs are more retraining programs for jobs that don't exist. we have a whole bunch of those. let's learn from programs that really work. yesterday in williamson i met a young man named brandon. he dad was a miner.

he thought he would be too. then his dad lost his job and that got brandon thinking about his future. so while he was still in high school he learned about the training program offered by the coalfield development corporation. workers there spent 33 hours a week on the job getting paid, six hours in the classroom working toward an associates degree, three hours learning life skills like financial management. so that's the path brandon is taking. and when he's done, he'll have concrete skills that employers want. a two-year degree, some money in the bank and he'll be able to build the kind of life that he's wanted right in his own hometown. fourth and finally, we got to invest in families. raising a family is hard work anywhere, and i think it's harder today than it was not so long ago. i talk to a lot of young parents. i'm really zeroing in on this now as a new grandmother.

i pay a lot of attention to the struggles that young parents are facing, no matter what level of income and education, there are different challenges. and i think we've got to be more helpful. we make it just about as hard to balance family and work as we can in this country. that's why we need paid family leave that supports families taking care of their loved ones. [applause] and why we got to continue the work under the affordable care act to provide quality, affordable health insurance, get the costs down, get more competition in the system. [applause] and we need to look at specific problems like, for example, too many miners with black lung disease have been denied the health care they need because coal company funded lawyers and doctors withheld evidence or willfully misdiagnosed them.

i know a little bit about this because way back in arkansas when bill and i were there teaching at the law school, he took on a bunch of black lung disease cases. about 100 of them, as i recall. and he and i would travel to meet with the miners and their families to see what could be done to help them. unfortunately, the problems never stopped. we also know that this region loses too many young people. they go to college. they go for work and they don't come back. they don't see a way to make a living. others stay and it's a real struggle. for many people, these problems are too big to bear. so we have drug abuse, alcohol abuse and suicide all on the rise across appalachia, and shockingly for some, especially middle-aged white women, life expectancy is actually on the

decline. a part from times of war, that's never happened before in the united states. my husband and i have been talking about this for months and we saw the statistics. people are dying from opioid abuse, from heroin. they're dying from suicide, but i thought bill really put his finger on it. he said, you know what they're really dying from? they're dying from a broken heart. this is a problem that should concern every american. we need to make a national effort. we can't go on like this. we've got to commit to treating substance abuse disorders and mental health issues. [applause]

we should bring the same urgency and resources to bear as we do for heart disease or cancer. addiction isn't a moral failing, it's a disease. [applause] and mental health is just as important as physical health. [applause] that's what we've got to commit ourselves to doing. now, these are all complicated problems. they all intersect, and there are no easy solutions but we can't just ignore them and we can't deny them. we need a full-court press -- government, business, universities, community groups,

advocates, people pulling together, learning from each other and that's exactly what i want to do. you know, the ideas that i'm putting out today are just a start. i'm going to take everything i heard these last two days, add it to everything else i have heard over a lifetime and work with leaders like sherrod and others to come up with plans. it is truly not worth running for and serving as president if you do not help struggling and striving americans get ahead and stay ahead. [applause] and, of course, it's fair to ask -- what is the other side offering? unfortunately, it's the same old trickled down economics that's failed us before. donald trump doesn't talk about these issues on the campaign

trail, but his tax plan would give $3.2 trillion to millionaires and billionaires. the people in our society who need it the least. you know what we could do with that kind of money. we could make social security and medicare solvent for the next 75 years, for example. [applause] we could repair, replace and expand our entire national infrastructure. i just don't get it. the other side wants to give that money to the rich. what a waste. and they don't even bother to come up with solutions to most of the problems people talk to me about. they say things like, let's get out of the e.p.a., let's get rid of the department of education. you know, closing the e.p.a. is not the answer to rebuilding a region as we transition to clean renewable energy, and

closing the department of education is not going to stop the chinese from dumping steel or reverse the decline in jobs. it won't fix the roads or keep the schools open. so we've got to stay focused on what we can do together, and we know how to do this, my friends. i am absolutely committed to working with everybody. i think part of the job of being a president is to be the convener in chief, bring people to the white house, sit around a table, talk and listen to each other. [applause] jackie o's can of beer to get things going, because we don't have time to waste. people are discouraged. people are disheartened. people feel our government, our politics and our economy have failed them. so let's make the wealthy pay their fair share instead of

giving them more tax breaks. let's invest in appalachia, give the families here the now, i want to close with a letter that i recently received from another young man in west virginia. also by the name of brandon. apparently there was a. of time where that was a very popular name. his dad is also a retired minor. .ere's what he wrote "the coal industry has always been up and down. we always made it through the tough times because of the people around us. we know what it is to be a community here in west virginia. we come together when someone needs help. it's not just his story, that's not just west virginia or an appellation story. that's an american story. at our best we pull together, we lift each other up.

i think it really does take a village to raise a child, to heal a community, to restore people's faith in ourselves, our country, and our future. [applause] ourselves to be divided against one another. to be set against one another. to have scapegoating and's insulting,aming and instead of an honest, candid conversation about what we are going to do together. and so -- [applause] let's commit ourselves to make sure that all of our families can live lives of dignity, security, and opportunity. and we treat each other with respect, even when we disagree. because we are not always going to agree. and to build that future that i see. a future of confidence and optimism to break down the

barriers that are holding people back. i'm very excited about this. people ask me all the time, how are you going to respond to all of these attacks? all of these names that you are called? i say -- really? [laughter] it's not like i haven't been dealing with that for 25 years. [applause] really? [applause] because you know it's not about me. it's about us. i'm going to stand up and fight for you. i'm going to be on the front lines for this country that i love that has given me and my husband so much. i want to make sure that i can look in the eyes of my absolutely adorable mind ten-month old grandchild and i can say, honestly, you are going

to be given every opportunity, but you know what's great about this country, charlotte? every kid is going to be given every opportunity. and we are going to build a future that takes a vantage of the talent and the hard work of every single one of our children. [applause] help me in this, athens. thank you and god bless you. [cheers and applause]

[shouting] [cheers and applause] [ambient room noise] ♪ >> ♪ this one goes out to the man who mines miracles this one goes out to the ones in need his ain't about no apology

he hopeless and the hungry this road was paved by the winds of change. how will you raise her hand when they call your name? follown't born to come on and get up off your feet we've got a hold on to what we believe believe in the sunshine tomorrow we were born to follow ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016]

>> sen. sanders: campaigning in at 7:30 beginning eastern. sorry about that quick departure. we will have primary results and reaction to it tonight on the c-span networks. by the weather -- by the way there are 57 delegates in hoosier state. joining a discussion about political developments in north korea, the evolving function of congress is in that country and what might be expected. the wilson center hosting this discussion. we join it in progress. >> where they are coming from. it puts us in a better position to better interpret the regime today. again, we released these materials on the digital archive, this modern korean history portal. actually just releasing

today a new collection that esatures documents on congress of the past. materials are assembled from the archives of russia, china, hungary, albania, and a few other countries. this collection shows which toues have mattered most past congresses of the korean workers party and what north korean leaders actually sought to achieve through these conga -- congresses. as it suggests, they were used to layfounding leader out his roadmap for the economic development of the kind -- the country. the last in 1980 was used to , asnt his son, kim jong-il his successor. you can access this collection by going to the digital archive or typing in to any search

engine modern korean history portal and look through the collection. findings here from all six of the congresses of two now. so -- give me one second -- all .ight it might talk i'm going to do a couple of things. first i want to give some background on congresses in north korea. going to offer some suggestions based on trends, but we might expect from this conference. so, what are congresses? according to the 11th article of the constitution that has been in place there since 2012, the

democratic people's republic of korea carries out all of the activities tonight -- all the activities under the korean workers party. it leads to states in an arrangement known as the party state system. according to the charter, the congress is the supreme leadership organ that leads the democratic people's republic of korea. as such, the congresses are the most important political events in north korea. you don't have anything about -- anything else on the political schedule there. white -- not once in a generation event. or they shouldn't be. this is something that you see in the press a lot when describing the upcoming congress. , until 2012 the

congresses were supposed to have been held every five years. but this was amended in 2012. , the last congress was in 1980. i really expect them to be happening on a much more frequent basis moving forward. leader today seems to be continuing to elevate the role of the party. this was a process started a few years before he died and i think that the resumption of the congresses seems to be a natural act. and functionurpose of the congresses is to elect a new central committee. delegates from around north congress andthe each delegate represents a

certain number of party members. it used to be a number of one to 1000. i'm not sure exactly what it is anymore. the number ofct members to the central committee that was authorized by the congress. that number has grown. in 1946 the first congress, there were 43 members of the central committee elected. in 1980i think it was 124 full members. you also have candidate members of the central committee who can attend the congresses but they don't have voting rights. , it more orde them less doubles the size of the central committee. while the congress is the supreme leadership organ, the central committee is supposed to meet between sessions of the congresses. they are supposed to do this to

-- four regular party business. this is supposed to happen three times per year through planner recessions. but that's in theory. this hasn't been the case for the last three and a half decades. another function of the party or the congress is to amend the party charter. setting out how the party is organized and how the various toties in the party relate the north korean government, the military, to society, and the economy. bodies, theller politburo or the standing committee -- the name changes. you have another body that is a part of this, the party is the essential military commission which seems to be under the

authority of the party again. you may say that the party charter is an ideological document. thatntains a preamble gives a broad definition of the parties views on many diplomatic and international issues. the views expressed in the preamble in many ways inform the policies of north korea. between congresses. a full congress, the party can also convene a party conference. you may recall that in 2010 and in 2012 you had party conferences. there have been a total of four conferences in the history of the korean workers party. in thethese listed powerpoint here.

so, what is the difference between a congress and a conference? or one, less can be achieved at a conference. for example, interior only 1/5 of the central committee can be replaced at a conference. in practice there is some flexibility. at the third conference in 2010 a larger number of members of the central committee was replaced. this could be because many had died or were purged from the last meeting. in 1980. also, a conference cannot declare a new term of the central committee. despite the fact that there have been two since 2010, the korean workers party is still operating under the sixth essential committee elected at the last congress in 1980. as noted there have been a total

of six since the party was founded. the founding of the party is something that was up for debate. the north korean celebrated last october anniversary of the party's founding. that was the anniversary of the party.n korean communist the korean workers party was founded in august of 1946, when the communist party merged with another progressive party called the new people's party. done at the suggestion of joseph stalin. il-sungting that kim had with him in moscow. in the merger took place at the first congress.

this was the last pre-korean war congress to focus on putting the party in order, passing new bylaws. to emerge from the third congress that happened after the war. discussed include economic development, domestic politics, international , and inter-korean relations. at the last two congresses ideology played a major role. and of course there have been displays, significant displays andoyalty to the kim family the unitary leadership system. conditions are not ideal for the upcoming congress. the tone of the statement announcing the congress in october, this is when they had

just celebrated the 70th anniversary of the party. the tone of that announcement, that a congress would be called, was pretty up the. since then their status quo has become pretty unfavorable. relations have worsened the point where the kaesong industrial complex, really the last economic link between the two koreas, was shuttered. relations with china are on the rocks after the incident december the band in that was sent into china to have a couple of concerts. when the north koreans discovered that only mid-level chinese officials would be present at the concerts, the band was brought back to korea. the concerts were canceled. if you believe the north korean , the koreania

central news agency, kim jong-un gave orders for the fourth nuclear test in the immediate wake of this incident. it seems that the failure to improve relations with beijing eoul or thatnd s they needed to demonstrate strength and military power to the impoverished people of north korea. they decided to do this through them are best of their nuclear program. to be sure, there activities have surged since earlier this year. in january of worst they conducted their fourth nuclear test. in the following month they conducted a test of a strong -- a long-range nuclear missile. the kind that in theory could carry a nuclear weapons that the united states. north korea claimed to have tested a more powerful rocket claimed tohave also

have miniaturized nuclear weapons so that they could fit on the tip of a missile. in april they fired a submarine launched ballistic missile and made three attempts at launching a medium-range missile. the missile test failed, as we know. but it's not certain that the north korean people are aware of this. you know, of course, all you have to do is visit the -- to get a sense of how truthful they are to the people, you just have to visit the museum of the three thelutions and you can see every missile they claim to have fired his successful and that you have satellites in orbit today broadcasting 24 hours per day the songs of kim jong-il. despite the fact that we know that those tests failed.

so, what can we expect from the congress? ofare going to see a lot things that have been on the agenda in the past, i think. major policy announcements? the soviets and the chinese used congresses to unveil major new policies. for example, the use of the 12th conference of the chinese communist party to forward the idea of developing socialism with chinese characteristics. in 1956 nikita khrushchev used the 20th party congress of the soviet union to launch desalinization -- desta linization. in 1946 it was harassed right up. but what we see in the documents -- perestroika. but what we see in the documents

is that the north koreans have not really used conferences -- congresses for the same purpose. they have been largely scripted events. i wouldn't really expect anything new. as the hungarian ambassador to north korea wrote in late september of 1980, congresses "serve only for endorsing the politics created by a narrow political group and not for discussing, developing, or introducing meaningful political directions suitable for the new circumstances." debate andexpect discussion. what you should expect is lots of grandiose statements about nuclear capabilities, support for kim jong-un and the military leadership system. internal cohesion and perhaps economic development. so, what will we see? we will see kim jong-un delivering a report on in syria

what should be the accomplishments since the last congress in 1980. i suspect that he will also be presenting new policy directions. i expect that that part of the speech will be brief. focus onl be more of a what the new policy directions will be. the lackr if perhaps of accomplishments is one of the reasons that kim jong-il never convened a conference -- congressman he was in power. i would venture to guess that the north koreans will be talking a lit -- a bit of -- a policy of about the equal emphasis or simultaneous development of nuclear weapons withclear programs along consumer goods industries. this is a modification of a policy that was launched in 1962

by his grandfather. senior, it was about the simultaneous development of heavy industry and national defense industries. guns.m it was steel and for kim jong-un, who relaunched in 2013, it is more nukes and butter. be much talky about the successes in the development of the nuclear weapons program. along with that the speeches will perhaps outline how they plan to make the butter. according to a report in the north korean press on saturday, " proudly joined the ranks of nuclear and is one demonstrating that might be invincible political, ,deological, and youth power now dashing ahead forward to a

highly civilized nation." does this mean policy shift or adjustments to the old system? again, congresses of the korean workers party have never been used to launch new and transformative policies. i would therefore fact tweaks to the old system. i think this 70 day speed campaign that was launched as a run-up to the conference is a pretty clear sign of this. , as theys were tough are now because of sanctions, they mobilized indigenous human material resources. the results of these campaigns looked impressive, qualitatively , but led to serious distortions in resource distributions and undermined the economy's base. north koreans have started a new campaign, launched a new

expression -- create. mid-1950'sed from a mobilization campaign. was launched when north korea was unveiling its five-year plan after the korean war. a time when eight from the socialist camp was in decline. so, they were forced to mobilize these resources to achieve the goals of the five-year plan. it was a mythical flying horse. a pegasus that could travel 400 kilometers in a single day. 4000 kilometers in a single day. they are asking the north korean to do 10 times the work in a single day. these speed battle campaigns are focused on short-term goals. seems to suggest that as a

result of sanctions, we should not expect the announcement of medium-range plans for economic through, for example, a new five-year or seven-year plan. that said, north koreans are pretty skillful at getting around sanctions. there are, of course, doubts. doubts persist about the chinese commitment to enforcing sanctions. i think that in the end any ,mprovement in consumer goods any focus on consumer goods, however small it may be, would still be a major improvement in north korea. as you see in the materials, since 1953 they have been focused single-mindedly on the development of heavy industry and defense capabilities. the congress will also likely bring to an end, i think, i hope , many of the changes at the top

levels of leadership. including the dramatic purges and even executions. with the election of the new central committee at think we will have a better understanding of who is in control. i wouldn't be surprised to see a younger generation with a congress that is really going to give kim jong-un the opportunity to bring about generational change through the election of a new central committee. i think we will also see a lot of stress on the unitarian leadership system, which is again a throwback to an earlier time. a debate within the korean workers party kim il-sung, the grandfather of the out theleader, called

system that made the word of the sovereign absolute. i expect you will see a lot of discussion of this again. discourage any difference of opinion. now, on inter-korean relations we might see reference to the , 1972ples of the july 4 july 4 declaration, inter-korean declaration. kim jong-un brought these principles in in his new year's address. he suggested the need to show willingness to respect and faithfully implement the three main principles of reunification of the fatherland. the principles are again autonomy, peace, and solidarity. .people but given the state of korean

relations today, i was advised if there was -- surprised if anything was beyond that. for example, the establishment of confederation, a system to bring about unification. but, i would be surprised if there was any discussion beyond that. to summarize, i do not think we can expect major changes. we will see an expression of and hisfor kim jong-un line to the nuclear program and his promise to begin focusing more on economic development. unity around the leader. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, james. we will now turn to bob. i was -- i think some of

you were at -- i was at a meeting earlier today looking at the future of the queen peninsula and the problems of north korea. that is dismal. looking at the past is actually exhilarating, somewhat fun, because what it demonstrates is we actually know something. and their air -- there are windows into the soul of the country that should help us understand what will be happening on friday. you will be seeing in the newspaper commentaries and on of news, i'm afraid a lot baloney about the congress, a lot of reporters don't have familiarity with north korea. i do not know how much homework