very nervous about some big new policy because they didn't want to tie their hands with the next president. when several months without any new policy on housing and i feel like we are entering a similar space now. they have this new agreement on russia in terms of the russia hacking incident, is the u.s. being cautious in how it responds because there's going to be a new president soon? you don't want to tie the hands of the next commander-in-chief. it's unclear how russia might escalate things. susan: he was urging the white house to name russia as a starting point at least. it was interesting how he talked about the concerns the white house of the president might look like he is putting his hand on the scale for the election. how does this environment with

mr. trump with his positive statements toward russia while the hacking is going on, it's all swirling around us. deb: i think that's a good question. i think he mentioned there is no doubt about the fact that russia is to blame here or at least packers affiliated with russian government organizations. what we are hearing now is they are not sure what hundred percent on the attribution. i think the delay could be on that as opposed to they don't know what to do because of all of these different political considerations or diplomatic generations. susan: having 100% certainty before you point the finger in other words.

deb: how do we know the government hasn't responded? we just don't know. damian: the u.s. and soviet have been doing this kind of thing for decades. i think what a lot of people believe, if vladimir putin is behind this, he sees it as an extension of a ping-pong match that's gone on for years and years. the u.s. is had involvement in elections all of the world going back to world war ii. i think analysts believe this is just the way things work. you want to send a signal to ever will emerge from the selection that russia is on to you. that might be the signal they are sending. there is a big difference between vladimir putin telling his officials to do this and then some entrepreneurial hackers doing this on their own.

thinking it will look really good in size. it does make it hard to respond. susan: we have hopeful cooperation on syria for a cease-fire. both of our countries have an interest in defeating isis terrorists against our respective states. it's a complicated relationship. more complicated than it has been in the past. deb: i can see secretary kerry saying to not do anything on the hacking yet. there could be a million other diplomatic considerations we are not aware of. susan: were you surprised about his answer on homegrown terrorists? damian: he is a very cautious person. you never want to get out in front and say everything is fine because the next day there could he an attack.

i think he was doing his best to focus americans on the successes that we have had. kind of klein back some of the territory. iraq americans are interested in stopping terror attacks. i think a lot of officials feel like they are not in the credit for the progress they have made. susan: thanks to both of you for being on newsmakers this week. thank you for your questions. [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] >> in new jersey, the suspect conscious. this is a picture tweeted. the man identified as ahmad rahami taken into custody as shots were fired.

federal prosecutors have already dropped charges against him and you update as they become available. also live, house speaker paul ryan on the economic club of new onk will give his remarks how to create's for the next generation live at 12 30 eastern time, about 25 is from now. before speaker ryan's comments, here are some of today's washington journal. , trackingnthal campaign fundraising and spending. under eight weeks ago -- to go until election day. about the total money that's going to be spent with the presidential election and the congressional elections trade all combined, what sort of numbers are looking at? guest: our estimates are a lot less reliable this time around because of the donald trump factor than they would be in a more traditional election with more traditional candidates, for better or for worse.

to the point of how expensive this is going to be, just by way of background very briefly, in february of this year just from the presidential race alone, you had an election that was already crossing the $1 billion mark by virtue of the incredibly ,ompetitive primary particularly that the republicans were running with the multitude of candidates they had. but also because of the hillary clinton versus bernie sanders situation. when you add that on to the many months that have transpired since then, we are already talking about a presidential race that easily is going to exceed $2 billion in spending. could be more than that. and then lumping all the congressional races, house and senate, you have some very competitive senate races, whether it's in ohio, pennsylvania, or florida in the matter. it's all going to be right around if not a good bit more than it was four years ago during the 2012 presidential race, which was well past the $6 billion mark.

a lot is going to depend on exactly what donald trump does. donald trump has been a lot less money than mitt romney did in 2012. because donald trump has run a very different campaign than mitt romney ran. alone, it's messing with the predictions that we would traditionally have. host: with all those billions of dollars, what are the big edge of items for presidential campaign and a congressional campaign? is it still commercial tv airtime? guest: that's a big portion, you are certain to see that more now. hillary clinton has been incredibly aggressive in this via her campaign or the super pac's, these groups that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money advocate either for hillary clinton or in many cases, go and attack donald trump. those cans organizations are spending millions upon millions of dollars every week and have been doing so for quite a while now. primarily to attack donald trump.

there are some withering ads that are out there right now. donald trump, on the other hand, has set for much of the campaign that i have a self-funded candidate, the billionaire, rep. holding: to anyone. for quite a while during the course of the campaign, that held true in the sense that his campaign was largely funded by donald trump. when we moved into the general election scenario and the general election phase of the campaign, he began to change in the way his fundraising operation ran. he's been getting a heck of a lot of support from super pac's. he's also been raising a lot of money from individuals, people who are not named donald trump. and by that, in the past couple of months, he's been playing catch-up. he has less money and his presidency campaign than hillary clinton does, which may seem completely counterintuitive because donald trump is so personally wealthy. but roughly he has injected around $60 million of his own money into his own campaign, which falls well short of some

of the predictions that before he became a presidential candidate, donald trump himself said that he would pour into a race if he ever did become a presidential candidate. one of those numbers was $600 million. $60 million is a lot different than $600 million. lines, if you want join the conversation talking about campaign fundraising and spending and all the billions of dollars that are being spent the cycle. a democrat, call (202) 748-8000. republicans, call (202) 748-8001 . call (202)s, 748-8002. is actuallys to spending the money, are the candidates and outside groups about equal in the spending? our candidate fundraising far outweighed by the shadowy groups we hear about? it depends on the race we are talking about. the presidential level, the candidates themselves are spending a considerable amount of money. , that be in the end

outside groups are going to be catching up. but the candidates themselves have really been leading the way both for hillary clinton and for donald trump. there is one caveat to that, which is the super pac called priorities usa action. the super pac it was created to help barack obama in 2012 run his reelection campaign and supported him with incredible amounts of money and was beating up on mitt romney and effectively acting as his surrogate among super pac's. they shifted and went and began to support hillary clinton. even before hillary clinton was an official nominated candidate for officially declared candidate. they have been instrumental in spending and raising money on hillary clinton's behalf in support hillary clinton. that's the biggest, baddest super pac of all the presidential level. when you get to the senate level in the house level, it really depends on race as to whether the candidates themselves on the outside organizations are spending more or spending less.

it's a mixed bag. mentioned priority usa, i have an ad from them so our viewers can see with that money is being spent on to produce. [video clip] the leastmp: i'm racist person there is. look at my african-american. all lives matter. his grandmother in kenya said he was born in kenya and she was there and witnessed the birth. ok? he doesn't have a certificate. you are living in poverty, your schools are no good. believe me. host: their super pac supporting donald trump. [video clip] hillary clinton: we came out of the white house that broke come into. >> it didn't last long.

wall street insiders, corrupt dictators. the clintons are now worth nexus $100 million. -- in excess of $109. host: dave levinthal, you've research on this. guest: put that group and a lot of playing catch-up. the irony here is that hillary clinton early in her campaign fourthat she would have hillary clinton has been outspoken on the stump about eforming the campaign finance system, about advocating against

united states and supreme court decision that really changed the way that ampaigns are run and waged in terms of outside money pouring races.mpetitive hillary clinton advocated for reform, wants constitutional amendment to overturn citizens united, which would be a very difficult thing to do, but that is another point. the same time, she has been beneficiary of outside money, the kind of money united by the citizens decision and from groups like prior action, another one called action, super pac. merican bridge, 21st century and even before hillary clinton was a canidate, she had a super for hillary pac, which raised millions upon millions of ollars, sometimes from places difficult to trace in order to infrastructure in weight for hillary clinton when he did become a canidate and

benefits her immediately and was out of the gate. donald trump doesn't have an analogous organization, a super pac that was there aiting for donald trump to diidate. canned can it was driven by donald trump. how it isnd politics, being raised and spent, our topic for the next 40 minutes levinthal. kelly is up first from georgia. go ahead. yes, thank you for taking my call. will tell you i placed my first vote when i was for bill clinton. democrat., i became a i will tell you how i spent my money this year. the always supported republican party. but this year, i decided even call from the er republican party, i had a call marco rubio, i live in georgia. i decide third degree year to

money to the trump campaign. we have told the republican arty as upset as we are about obama policies, we are more so t with our own party, therefore, as of this year, i'm giving money straight to the party as far as down ballot races go, i know purdue ballot this year, but from this point on, i will the canidate that i support and as far as the epublican vote from this point on, we will remember those people like paul ryan, that the time they could find the hot mic, tofs say something our nominee and not defended his own party. we will plorable and not forget that he did not stand announce and support his people.y's

>> what sort of amounts are you money in? >> sir, i can't each report it not about to 'm tell how much money i give to the trump campaign. or in the undreds thousands, kelly? >> sir, i don't tell how much. even, i'm going to tell buti'm adorable deplorable, not about to announce on national t.v. how much. for a trump pay hat, i'm not about to tell you how much money. this, aruba ou campaign, paul ryan's i get an e-mail every single ay, from portman, from paul ryan in his primary, i give calls me where the rnc almost every single day wanting support, but i'm not about to money i how much give --

within your right. seeing a lot of small donations this cycle more than sual because of the can diidates or larger don'tinations, what are we see amounts? thing bernie sanders and donald trump have in common, both donald trump and bernie sanders received amount of money and support from people giving small dollar amounts. liketo define small dollar in quotes, something $200 less. if to the caller's point, if you make a donation, you or i were a donation to a political candidate, more than $200, that would be public they would report, our name, city, occupation,

matter of public record. we've been finding the and donald trump leads hillary clinton in this regard, leading from small donors, people giving $10, $50's, $100, even if it is money, show t of support and affection for that candidate, that they support. the caller, we talked to a to thatf people similar caller who support donald trump and have asked them this very why do you support donald trump, who is a billionaire? he could his entire campaign if he wanted to. down to, i feel strongly for him and want to show him support. a show of moral fortitude, i t going to be something feel is important for me to do n. fact, a lot of people have donations because they bought a "let's make america great" hat.

$25. sometimes they didn't even ealize when you get a "make america great again" hat, you are making a campaign contribution if you buy through trump's website. even democrats who got them as a inadvertently made a donald trump. host: allen, good morning. think i'm in my 60s, i voters under 50 have no recollection of the existence of federal policy starting in the doctrine andirness equal time rule. both of these were ended under during the reagan administration, 30 years ago. e have a generation who has grownup since that ended and have no recollection of what media was like before. change is thathe opinionated false statements that get made by roadcast personalities or

guests or candidates that would trigger for an opposing viewpoint or equal time or '87 are now allowed to pass unchallenged and stream of of the factoids people have to verify n their own and very often not verified. another result of this, people like trump, who were because of sheer extremity are getting more free hours of air time and there is the broadcasters to give equal time to opposing viewpoints, so they are now attracted by political view or him taining aspect to give more than his fair share of air time. i think the time estimated he billion in free air time just up to the last spring broadcasters found he was drawing viewership. i think we need to educate the the changes in policy that are 30 years old and have a discussion about maybe

some rule like this because we're now suffering from that.quences of >> allen, thanks for the call. levinthal ime, dave has an article and been tracking ads in the 2016 race. public integrity dot orgfthey want to see your work tracking the t.v. ads and the map, where taking see the ads are place. to the caller's point. guest: the caller is right, a great ump has been beneficiary of free media advertising, not advertising per for donald trump, it largely served as advertisement campaign, him himself, or his policy to the point he described them. hillary clinton, her campaign almost under the gun when it comes to having to spend on ck of a lot more money paid media, paid television, paid radio.

host: exactly. the 30 second spots and spots, i'm not a media historian, but we live in time than even 10 years ago, cupull out your cell ipad is find video contents, print content, any politics, tent about coming from politicians irectly, coming from various media outlets, be it what it may, thousands of different you can get some kind of political content about, candidates, hillary clinton or donald trump. it is such a split and divided landscape, you just don't ave abc and cbs and nbc and couple of options and newspapers that you're able to get radio, ed locally and yet it is just his vectored so much beyond that it is very and for example, the federal election commission, a government aigence that he we

closely, they strug welthis mightily trying to pass or proposeegulations ones that would speak to the changing ic and digital media landscape that has befuddled election regulator necessary terms of content. is paid what is something that should be regulated versus something that be? should everything we passor all or should open regulation? these are open will not be t decided during 2016 and probably not soon after host: head to barbara in alabama. you are on with david levinthal. morning, thank you for taking my call. yes, i would like to say quickly all hillary clinton, we know where she is getting her and shefor her campaign is being bought off. washington. owned in

donald trump self-funded his ampaign and that is, you know, that to me tells me a lot about the candidate. one thing i want to mention, thatthe lady said, i think cruz, paul k, ted ryan tis disrespectful they do their candidate. they didn't even go to the commission. what about the thousands that trump.ted donald they mean nothing to kissick, people are the way looking at it. that is truly disrespectful and that -- >> barbara, you touched on this already, more effective in the

versus the general election or do you think it is work nothing both? add to the point about donald trump self-funding, he his argely self funding campaign during the primary. but if donald trump is to say he self-funding his campaign now, not something he says anymore, it would not be true, he is not self-funding his roughly and spends numbers will change soon, we will get a new dump of data raiseing andn fund spending. >> when does that happen? >> coming up late tomorrow night, it will detail this in greater detail. overall donaldg, trump personally injected not -- e half of what the money in total that his campaign has raised over the course of the donald trumplately has been putting in a couple million dollars every month of a heck of a lot of money to a lot of people. ut in the context of political

campaign, specifically presidential campaign, we're nine-figure deal, that is margin of how much money raise.ll need to much of donald trump's monsecoming from individual people making small dollar donations, in some cases donations.ng larger donald trump is now benefiting rom what is amounts to tens of millions of dollars from money he himself doesn't control, his but coming control, from supportive super pacs, groups that raise and spend as money as they want to and are putting up television ads or o prog motional activity for donald trump's campaign. those are really hard numbers when it comes to funding of trump's overall campaign effort and it marks a shift in way donald trump philosophically approached his self-fundedom a more molel, which was true to a large extent to something more or less

operating like a traditional been gn and has even committees with republican national committee and has the more traditional operation. host: lan caster, california, is waiting. good morning. yes, i had given donation. campaign $40 when she became ill, i thought, i want her to know i care for her. i want her to know that i want her to know that there is the desert of hillary a backing clinton. i sent $225, which is a lot for but i was glad to do it. hope that the reason i like her is because she cares, she me.es for people like she ld and 80 and also

cares about children. i just think that is so beautiful. just, she has always cared about children. hen i see children, my heart goes out to them, too. just i'm not very good at i s, but anyway, that is why cherish hillary clinton. >> and with her donation cycle, i want to hear your reason, your questions fundraising, n campaign spending. dave levinthal is our guest for the next 15 ments. democrats 202-748- 8000. independents 202-748--8002. line for independence, you're up. >> i have a couple questions to ask. doing, dave? guest: doing great. caller: isn't the fcc, and the group that picks moderators, be

a debate coming up, to hillary clinton, they have not donated any money have not trump, they donated any money to the green party, i forget her name, have donated any money to gary johnson. host: mark, the commission on and the fcc,debate where do you get your nformation from, mark? caller: from the facebook from i eral groups that participate on facebook on that. y second question is -- host: take that point, mark. i want dave levinthal to weigh in on that. sure, just to clarify, the commission that oversees presidential debates is nonprofit organization. they in fact do take ontributions to fund their efforts to stage the debates that are going to happen at the

presidential level. three of them and one vice presidential debate. they don't give money to candidates per se. hey have no role in the debates, especially in terms of bunting, the federal election money ton doesn't give any candidate, it is their role to disclose ility money being used to run laws ins, they regulate the country that deal with elections, but it should be note commission on presidential debate doeses take monfreprivate sources, in some nonprofit, other nonprofit organizations, it has been story tions, this is a that is kind of undertold, i think. i don't think a lot of people what goes into the operation. it is controversial in the sense if you are uirement gary johnson supporter, jill is really rter, this going to be a situation that is

etrimental to their campaigns, because under the current rules, the way things are set up for of te, have you to get 15% the vote in a variety of polls n order to qualify for the debate and neither gary johnson met the threshold for the first debate. you will see hillary clinton and johnson, ump, no gary no jill stein in the first debate. dubious if gary johnson will qualify for the second or third. repeat re looking for a f 1992, when ross perot was on the debate stage with george and bill clinton, you will not get that initially. we will carry the debateos c-span, watch them with us. gregory from pennsylvania. good morning. caller: good morning, sir. hello.it -- host: we're listening, gregory, go ahead.

caller: very good, sir. it disturbing hillary clinton and donald trump have one thing in common, that is connections.l support with muchly rate. very given the fact huge amount going campaigning and the forces would at include foreign sources, would indicative of some in other ychosis? grievous and taking money for their campaign. do you see any reflection and occur to me and why is it addressed more you, sir. thank levinthal.

guest: no question hillary clinton and donald trump have foreign ections with entities. the ry clinton, through clinton foundation, the clinton foundation has taken money from of foreign sources, some came at the same time hillary clinton was serving as state, the top diplomatic official in the united states. his has been something without going into the gory details of herhas been problematic for in a political context as she runs her campaign. donald trump, on the other hand, has numerous business interests all across the world. is were ion there donald trump to become president, how would he of ntangle himself from all those foreign financial interests that he has? he will.hat he says that won't be a problem. itwill either pull away from or otherwise not be involved in having direct financial interest

operations he of has across the world and a number of different countries, easier said than done, because he has so many different companies and organizations and donald trump a way in his own brand. donald trump is a brand and those companies are largely donald trump. host: the viewer's call, there are rules against foreign entities giving onations to candidates in u.s. elections, how did the sec nsure that doesn't happen? guest: they check and go line by the campaign. usually that works, not always does it work. e just wrote a story in the last week, my colleague, michael beckell, identified a contribution, a man from canada, not a u.s. citizen, doesn't have a contribution to a candidate, it was part of a bet, in fact, curead the article, he made a contribution

campaign. trump's the trump campaign didn't pick p on it, federal election commission didn't pick up on it and the donald trump campaign gave it back. of this -- host: from you going through the ndividual filings? guest: from the individual filings. that is not to say something can't be found on hillary side.on's one contribution that will be things slip times through the cracks and as a result tis possible for foreign campaign.o into a now donald trump immediately, once he was notified of it, gave money back and says, no, we'll not take that money, of ourse, but it is always there that things are not there. it should be noted that you can non-u.s. citizen and make a contribution to a campaign, but you have to have permanent legal status. in other words, you have to have a green card in order to do it. citizen of ust a japan or china or india or you a, name any country,

can't go online and make a contribution to a political candidate without the aforementioneds status. have been talk withing dave levinthal. new jersey. tyrique, good morning. caller: good morning. i'm a hillary supporter. enough and i take to illary because she has faults, but the other candidate, mr. trump, is like the republicans get away with anything. the stuff that he says is rhetoric, it's hate mongering because just a shame he's tearing our world apart, he's tearing us apart. a kid, when you are kids, you don't know about sxhat rouble, but when you got somebody feeding you that and putting it in your ear and

everybody, this person is take thanksgiving, this person is taking that, that is what you get. get a pot that blows up and everything goes to pieces. a shame that real republicans just don't stick up, few, but most of them haven't. the same thing. host: thoughts from newark. connecticut, ven, an independent. pete, good morning. caller: good morning. three comments, my first comment, i never contribute to campaign fund and i've been voting at the elections for the is one.years, that i think it is waste of money and through with their promises anyways. if hillary nt is, clint

spoke against special interest and tried to get the on the problem, why does she accept the money in the first place? and the third had, every year when we make our income tax, they ay, would you like to contribute $1 to the campaign fund. involved and is what do they do with that monsne host: all right, answers from levinthal. guest: second two questions. an er one, people have option, they can make a campaign a tribution or not make campaign contribution, nobody is compelled. areopting ople who out. if you take the most extreme example of people opting out, if we were have thanksgiving conversation a year ago, john, more about talking the koch brothers or casino adelson and how much they were expected to pour into the presidential race

super pacs and other organizations that would be supporting presumably the nominee.n they are nowhere to be found at he presidential level and any effort with the koch brothers eing put forth are being put forth at senate level, putting all cash into trying to make hang on to ublicans the campaign. had a different situation in 2012 and the koch's and other republican-leaning donors were behind mitt romney at that point. the caller's other point, public funding of campaigns, this ystem used to be a big deal in presidential politics, people check the box on taxes and give be y and the fund would created where you effectively had meshing funds. candidate wanted public funding for their campaign, it would be matched

money they raised and that would be something available to them. candidates began opting out in when barack icular obama didn't opt into it. john mccain in 2008, he said, all bets are off, i will take as much money as i to, the public system is dead. neither hillary clinton nor the d trump opted into system. for viewers who want to learn more about that, we spent 45 a viewer segment about the history of that system. c-span dot org, find it in the archives of this program. there, viewers. want to get to before you leave, waiting in een cathedral city, california. democrat.ing, caller: good morning. i just called to say that i'm hillary clinton.

mistakes, she's not perfect, i know that. but no one is perfect. tried to help people in this country and other places, too. it takes a world, okay. it takes the world to live. city or one state or one country. very nald trump is frightening to me. he and his campaign people, they and they lie directly into the camera. behooved a lot of the things that have come out of his be h have been proved to lies. that is >> we believe this to take you at the paul ryan economic club of new york. he will be speaking soon. [applause]

>> the economic club of new york is the nation's leading nonpartisan forum for economic, social, and political issues. --e than 1000 prominent best guest speakers have appeared here in the past quarter-century. these club members continue to make an extraordinary ensure then to financial stability of the club into the second century. for those of you who would like about theore centennial society, please contact us and we'll talk to you about the benefits of being part of the group. would like to welcome the table of students here, students from columbia and law school, at each one of these events -- theirpossible education beyond the classroom.

this afternoon, we are honored to welcome our distinguished guest, the honorable paul ryan, speaker of the u.s. house of representatives. paul ryan is a fifth-generation wisconsin native horn and raised in janesville wisconsin. currently servingcurrently servm as member of congress representing -- paul was elected speaker of the house after then house speaker john banner retired from congress. prior to serving as speaker of the house, congressman ryan served as chairman of the house flames -- ways and means committee where he focused on many issues of the federal government. medicare and social security safety net, trade arrangements, and affordable health care. and 113th 112

promises, he served as chair where he foot -- put forward a multifaceted plan to tackle major fiscal issues entitled a path to prosperity. paul was very proud to say that he was a graduate of the josip a craig high school and jan so and earned a degree in economic and political science from miami university and ohio. with theiresville and following a speech where two designated club members will ask questions but for now, speaker ryan, the podium is yours. [applause] speaker ryan: thank you, really. thank you very much. speaking of the high school, my daughter got elected vice

president of the ninth grade >>. -- class. show that somebody in our family can get elected to vice president p we broke that curse. -- president. we broke that curse. first of all, we realize yet again that terror can strike at any moment at any street on any chains dacian and nothing can be taken for granted. so i just want you all to know that we are thinking and praying for you and god bless the men and women who are our first responders, fixing the problem and fighting for us. please know that new jersey, new york, and minnesota, we are thinking and praying for you.

it makes you think of our and all ofallenges our challenges. i am spending a lot of my time thinking about right now about ont are we going to do january 20, 2017, when we are standing face to face with all of our country's's problems. when i start running through all the things that need to get done, you can get easily just urged -- discouraged or i look at the dysfunction and think to myself, if we had four more years like the last six, to put it mildly, we are not putting ourselves in a position to truly tackle our nation's's biggest problems. don't get me wrong. we will do everything we can to make things right the matter who sits in what office. but it is exciting to view with your mind's eye the picture of

getting our country back on track. solving our problems. .estoring a competent country i would like to share with you in my minds eye with the picture looks like. in other words, i would like to share with you what it is we are trying to achieve with a unified republican government. to be clear, we are trying to restore the american idea for our generation. you see, there are a whole lot of people in the country who do not think this is there's. they do not think this idea is true for them anymore for good reason. power has been slipping out of the hands of the people over the past several years and into the hands of a very expansionist federal bureaucracy. it happened gradually. we have highlt, anxiety national security, a slow-growing economy, and in the bush years, we were focused on the war on terror. in the obama years, the president focused on cementing

the progressive legacy in place. at this point, it is obvious we need to change our ways. if the american idea is not true for everybody, well, then it really is not true at all, is it? it leads to the question, what is that? what is the american idea? what do we stand for and who are we trying to be? where to we come from? that is what i want to talk about with you today. how you answer the question, why is america struggling, kind of depends on how you answer the question, why did america succeed in the first place? we have got a lot of natural resources and land and water but those are not strictly necessary. look at israel and japan. got a very diverse population, a source of pride and energy but so does india. you have to ask yourself, why did this one, unique country, achieve so much more?

it is because this country was based on an idea -- freedom. our national rights. >>, not minute -- not class, not to minute and petty distinctions. others try to elevate what they think is the best part of their society. the nobility of the military or the bureaucratic -- here in america, we decided we can do all that we can do to unlock the best in any -- in everyone, every american citizen. meaning of american exceptionalism. i know the term is not real popular these days. some people think it is arrogant or condescending. we are not saying the american people are inherently superior to all other countries. what we are saying is, for whatever reason, and it is a the mystery, we were given opportunity to prove by our

example that people from all walks of life can live together in peace. they can collaborate, deliberate, and vote. and can fight side-by-side be more than a beacon to the world peace or we would be a herald of the really good news. freedom is possible. the condition of your birth does not determine the outcome of your life. you can build a great life for yourself if you work hard. you can build an even better life for your kids. in other words, to believe in american exceptionalism is too simple -- simply be grateful for what god has given us. this freedom require government? absolutely, of course it does. the town bully can still your stuff, the law of the land was no more than a passing of a whim . if you build it, if you grow it, if you work for it, it is yours. you earned it. that is a core principle.

possible.ot be nobody is more proud of our founding government -- governing declaration,en the the constitution, the bill of rights. there is no argument or the government can be a force for -- wins more customers for our products across the globe, when it lays down clear and firm rules for all of us to live like. it creates a free market where millions of people can buy sell, trade, and work their way to a better life. thean all attest to incredible power of free people working together. this has built the greatest economy the world has ever known.

are we skeptical of government? of course. our tax code should not look like a block of swiss cheese. our skepticism comes not from a hate of government. that is a strawman argument. but from a love of individual freedom. it is one thing to have read your glenn hubbard. i recommend that. [laughter] is wanting toit understand on a purely intellectual level the economic need to empower an individual. when you see it in person, in the most unlikely of places, that as a whole new ballgame. that is when you realize it is not just good policy. this is a moral imperative. , whatart to ask yourself else is america for if not for the people who want to start over? who can be more american than the person who has been to hell and back? what is the american group --

american dream if it is not the search for redemption? to hear the series and meet the people, it is an amazing more albums. i have been -- more owl -- mor ale boost. they are brilliant, they are great. if you want a few words of encouragement, the last person you should look to is an economist. no offense, glenn, wherever you are. no one seems to know the way forward. i started to think a few years is goodn in a jam, it to have a sense of history but you really need creativity. how do we take adversity and turn it into opportunity? the last four years, i decided to take a different tact. i tried for four years to get a budget agreement with the government. it was not going to happen. the have been going around country with a buddy of mine i met through my years with jack. we visited some of the poorest

communities in america. i have been to drug clinics, homeless shelters, you name it. i went in there thinking all i would see would be shuttered homes and shattered lives and that is not at all what i saw. i saw the drug dealer had become a drug counselor. the tough guy became a great family man. the gang leader had become and onto the north. i saw the small businesses he inated, the self-portraits, other words, i went in expecting to see the worst of america and i realized i had just seen the best of america. i want to give you one example. school in milwaukee. i have driven by this plays a million times. they have a thing they created called violence free zones. the school hires about a half-dozen young -- young graduates to mentor to the next generation. they are not garden-variety guidance counselors. these are x gang members, people who have prison records, who know the streets.

people who have been redeemed. that is precisely why they have credibility to talk to these kids. don't make the same mistake i made. look what happened to me, make a better choice. he started the program a few years ago and what happened, suspensions went down and attendance went up and they have 14 games in this one high school and now they have none. they have disappeared. i know the guy really well. he tried all these different things. more cops, more cameras. only this program worked. i can say to you, how fortunate to see this. the reason i love the story is because i saw with my own two eyes the american idea come to life in real flesh and blood human beings. here were people who had lost their way now finding their place in life. a whole school worth of kids on a really dangerous trajectory now on a good path.

here was the power of people working together to turn their lives around. you will not read about them in the fortune magazine or the wall street journal. they may not grow up to be rich or famous people. without a doubt, they are growing up to be free people, upstanding citizens, goodhearted americans. they are applying free-market principles in a distinct and new way. they are social entrepreneurs. they are the reason i am optimistic. you walk away from your experience thinking wow, what talent, what drive, what courage. you walk away thinking, we need them, we need more of them, we need to get them and others back into this economy. it is only when we start chipping away at the 94 million people out of the workforce statistic that we are really going to make a dent in the $19 trillion debt. we need the federal government to work with them and not against them. here is the thing. they are more than eager to do

it. they are ready and they cannot wait to get started. that is when you think to yourself, if these people can be their odds, then who on earth are we to complain about ours? it is not about the praise of success stories. we need to change our laws so we can see more of them. the policy platform has got to be more than an ode to the power of positive thinking. is why we have to have an agenda, that is why we have to tackle the problems before they tackle us. this presidential election is getting tight and i think we have a real opportunity here to win a mandate for a unified republican governance. that is why the house republicans and i are offering what we are calling a better way. this is an agenda we want to pursue with the next president. these are some of the answers we had to some of our country's biggest problems. the whole thinking here is we have these huge problems that

,usted -- that are surmountable to take our founding principles and supply them to the problems of the day and offer real solutions. mandates, when by acclamations and implement this. that is what we are trying to do and we are tackling the big albums. security, poverty, the economy, restoring the cost of titian and self-government, tax reform. i would be remiss if i did not plug our website. .ou can read the whole thing let me paint you a picture of what it is we are trying to achieve here it i think we can expand opportunity for all of our people, but especially those who need it most. person paying the highest marginal tax rate these days, it is not warren buffett or even erin rogers, who deserves the salary he is earning now, although maybe not last night. it is the single mom making $28,000 with two kids.

if she finds a job that pays her just a little bit more, she will be losing $.80 on the dollar to take the step forward. it is a huge disincentive to work and to advance. we call this the poverty trap, the result of having over 80 anti-povertyeral programs as we do today, with zero coordination among them. once you add up the benefits she will lose, it does not make sense to take the job. we are just trapping millions of people in poverty. basic approach to fighting poverty is to treat the symptoms, which ends up perpetuating it rather than going through the root causes. we have got to change this. what we are saying is give states the flexibility to innovate and try new things. let states coordinate with people who are already fighting poverty on the ground successfully and winning. groups like the salvation army, catholic charities, america works. we need to get the public sector

and the private sector, the nonprofit and the for-profit sectors, all of these working together and pulling in the same direction. we need to customize welfare benefits to meet a person's particular, and always, always, always reward work. remove this trap. thethese benefits to help actual person get from welfare to work. measure success based on results, not based on effort. that is what we have been doing spent,years, trillions about the same poverty rate is when we started the morning of poverty, and success rate is pretty much how many programs we have created, how many people on these programs? let's foot that and focus on are we actually getting people out of poverty? are holdingicies everyone back and the economy is suffering as a result of this. if we want to create more good paying jobs, we have to fix this text could. this is what i spent years working on.

which were i come from means lake superior, those canadians, they tax all their businesses at 15%. the irish are at 12.5%. england is going down to 18. the average industrialized tax rate on businesses is 23%. eight out of 10 businesses in america file taxes as individuals. with the highest tax rate on successful small businesses in america is today, 46%. the corporate tax rate is the highest in the industrialized world, 35%. this has got to change. if we want to start winning jobs in this country, if you want to keep e here, this code has got to go. we are showing you exactly what we want to do, and we have common ground on this.

first of all, get those rates down across the board. simplify the system so much so, that the american family can file their taxes on a postcard. dropdead individual passage rate down to 25%. take the corporate rate to 20%. let businesses right off everything in the year which they make that expense. that would create growth. byyou make money overseas exporting or selling a product overseas, let people take that money home any day they want to let that a consequence. board ofiting with the a bit was company the other day who had to repatriate so that they could bring their money back and invest in this country. we are killing growth in this country as consequence of this. what we are doing is showing in black and white what we can achieve in 2017 if we get this right.

tax foundation says this plan will create 1.7 million new jobs, 10% to the economy. builde are proposing to is not so much a competitive america, but more of a collaborative america. when we are trying to do here is trade the old, top-down bureaucratic 20th-century government we have got, the one that progressives are fighting to extend, and we want to traded in for a bottom-up, organic society, where opportunity is real and plentiful. as we all know, it is only in the collaborative environment of the enterprise that a person can truly flourish pd's are the commonsense ideas we need to take to get this country back on track. these are the ideas that we believe will put power back in the hands of people. hands of the people that pay the mortgage and make this country work. these are the ideas that can

solve our seemingly insurmountable problems. this is what we think we need to do to restore the american idea. if we keep kicking the can down the road, people really are going to give up hope on this country. more and more people, generations worth are going to disbelieve that this american idea is there for them. what a shame that would be. but if we put these reforms in place, we can turn things around. we are in the middle of a pessimistic, vicious cycle. it does not take a whole lot to turn this around, into an optimistic, virtuous cycle. to feel anxious at a time like this is natural. pessimism is a choice. the happy warrior does not drink from a fight. we except this challenge with joy. for all of our problems and doubts, i know we can turn things around. we know what we need to do but we need a government capable of doing it.

i have faith in this country. there is nobody in this country that says i wish my life were empty and meaningless. that is why we should not write anybody off, least of all, our fellow citizens. all of us want to be defined, not by our segment of society, but by our constitution to it. when we see people struggling, it is the rules, the rule makers that have failed us, not the people. none of this is automatic and none of this is easy. the american way of life is always a work in progress. the challenges we face are pretty stark and they are mounting. but this is our calling for the moment, and we need to answer the call. all i have to say is get to work. get to work, in high spirits, optimistically, happily, to rebuild this country we love. thank you for hearing me out. i appreciate it.

[applause] >> thank you. the next part of our program will be questions. we have a couple of our selected members who will be asking the questions. glenn hubbard, the dean of columbia's graduate school of business, as well as peter orszag. peter is the vice-chairman of --managing director of lazard. >> thank you for coming to speak to us today. i wanted to go back asking you, why didn't i america succeed in the first place, how we address the challenges. as you spoke, the answer to both of those was opportunity to growth. in the past couple of years, you spent time talking to the american people about growth.

as you go through a better way in your agenda, how would you prioritize policies that would get growth back to where it needs to be? speaker ryan: that's a great question. meaninged -- we, republicans in october -- it is one of the reasons i took the job. one was being able to take all the vacation. then we basically thought, what are the key things we have to get done that are so critical? growth is core. i would say there are a few things. first, tax reform is absolutely critical, one of the things that is holding us back. second is the regulatory state. two of the six planks in this plan deals with regulation. you name the sector, you have got the regulatory juggernaut coming out of this administration injecting so much

uncertainty, so much hesitancy in the private free economy. the labor department alone are unilaterally writing our overtime rules. you all know about. frank. the point i would say is, we have shown you what regulatory reform looks like, how we should revamp it so we have a 20% three regulatory system focused uncertainty and job creation, sound science, and the rest. but the point that we feel strongly about, that we think can help improve this regulatory climate, is we need to restore self-government, the separation of powers. we have seen this atrophy not just under obama, under republican presidents also, but it has gotten out of control. what i need to say is, all of these things we experienced the laws and regulations that micromanage our economy, schools, hospitals, we don't vote on these in congress. they just go into effect.

new fourththis branch of government, unelected bureaucrats running our laws. i see joe wilson from south carolina, we don't vote on these things. these things that are laws, rules and regulations, have to come through congress. 32 state legislatures do this already. we have to make sure the legislative branch under government, the one that is supposed to write the laws, faithfully executed those laws. that is not happening today. we are saying those things have to come through congress for a final approval before they go into effect. it is not a brand-new idea. we think doing that helps us restore accountability in the government, so we can focus on creating jobs, not building a bureaucracy that is distant from the people. tax reform, regulatory reform, and then the first one i made,

let's focus on getting people out of poverty by getting people into the workforce, focusing on skills, closing the skills gap, and focusing on these miserable labor participation rates. millions of able people not looking for work, not in school. just looking through the cracks. you get people back into the economy, you get the regulatory statement more accountable, and you get this tax system under control, and then we will take off. takes the fiscal policy offered its course with monetary policy. >> mr. speaker, you have laid out a compelling vision for the priorities with a republican trifecta of the white house, house, and send it. i understand is not your preferred outcome but -- speaker ryan: i don't want to talk about that. >> in that hypothetical world, how would your priorities change?

criminal justice reform, child income tax credit, both candidates favor additional infrastructure spending. where would you see areas of bipartisan work if you want up in a divided government scenario? speaker ryan: i'm trying to get criminal justice reform done this session of congress. that is a very important element. we are looking at how we can get that done. we have six bills out of judiciary already. that train is on the tracks. i am hoping we can get that done sooner rather than later. termssed the longest highway built for the first time since 1990's a few months ago. that is already in place, 10% above baseline spending on mass transit and highways. i would suggest that is occurring now. i think tax reform, you cannot defend the tax code anymore. the fear i have is the progressives who control the do not thinkrty

anything close to what looks like tax reform is a good thing. we offered up switching up to a territorial system, dumping tens of billions into the highway system, and it was rejected. i hope that view changes. the stated position is they want a worldwide tax system but ending deferral. there is a big gulf between our two views. i would like to think just with the pace of inversions and takeovers, the case for tax reform is indisputable, and we can overcome those ideological barricade that dominate the other side of the aisle. i know that is a partisan thing to say, but you know when talking about. on infrastructure, this is not a panacea. first of all, we are not keynesian, so we don't believe in these multipliers. there is no sense at to for organic economic growth, free enterprise, having sector growth.

if we have another progressive administration, the regulatory state will keep going on as it is. the fiscal policy is probably the easiest get. on the fiscal side, we have been pushing this entitlement reform rock up the hill for years. we have wasted eight years now. i worry that a progressive presidency will be just like the rest. you know these numbers better than anyone else in the country. if we don't start tackling our entitlement problems soon, it will tackle us. you know with the baseline looks like. it is number five in our six-point land on health care, how to deal with these entitlement problems. i don't see a progressive government tackling it comes this one has not at all. tax reform is probably the easiest get, hopefully. i look at the poverty space and i have to think there is some common ground there, moving

people from welfare to work. i passed a law with patty murray looking at an evidence-based, policy commission. we want to use objective tools to measure the outcome of policies based on evidence. that should take the politics and ideology out of this. can get that train on the tracks, which we are in the middle of doing, i think we can go down that space a little better. i think there is some space on welfare reform, poverty. i would love to think that is the case with tax reform but experience as ways and means party, was notr a pleasant one. i don't know if that will change. we will see. hopefully not. i want to take you back to the question of work and opportunity. you characterized the safety net as perhaps sometime being more like a spider web of trapping people, rather than cushioning them.

in a better way, you did talk about work and opportunity. if you were to look at the list of specifics, eitc changing mentioned, personal reemployment accounts, 20-such things -- how would you prioritize those, which one with a new congress and president take up first? speaker ryan: you are the author of -- >> i am still working on it. speaker ryan: if i had a chart, i would show it to you. you take a look at the various welfare benefits. we did the first accounting of this in years. we have 72 programs spending $80 billion a year fighting poverty. these programs, when you stack them on top of each other, they have these benefit clips that present a huge disincentive to work. like i said with a single mom as my example. she loses anywhere from $.90 on

the dollar taking a step forward, getting a job, getting a raise. eitc helps smooth that out and pull that person to work. the first thing i would do is change how the eitc works. it is a lump sum at the end of the year, so you don't feel it. the easiest way would be to embed it into the social security system. i think that would be a smart thing. when you look at the labor force participation rates, it is thomas adults that have slipped into the cracks. but you have to do with the spending programs that occur. this is why we want to collapse these programs and send them back to the states, and then break up the welfare monopoly that is administering these benefits. what a person typically experiences is, they need assistance, they go to the local county welfare services agency, and then they give your benefits, you go to somebody else, they give your benefits. there is no court nation.

you are seen as a cog in the machine. you are on these benefits. if you leave to get a job, you have this massive disincentive. what we have seen out there is that, in great groups spite of this disincentive, this government imposed poverty trap, that do wraparound benefits, case management -- charities have a great model of this in fort worth. there are lots of groups, some here in new york, that learned how to focus. this is like a patient navigator for health care. how do you help this person get their life in order, get her from where she is to where she needs to be, and always making work pay, customizing the benefits so that incentives are lined up. and do it in a way where all sectors, the public sector, charitable, government work in the same direction.

brittany we want to propose is move this back into the states, not just cut a check, but break of these monopolies providing services on the ground, so that a person down on her luck has choices of providers who compete for her business based on success. let cafeterias takeover. let salvation army do this. other organization do this and measure them based on results and outcomes. then the money should go where success occurs. it is our case for school choice. basically we are saying, if you do that, focus on benefiting people with critical incentives, work requirements, closing that skills get, she might have an addiction problem, and she may need to get a ged. he may just need a car and skills training. everybody is different. you cannot do this cookie-cutter

washington knows best approach because that is the result we have right now. we believe that that is the best way to get back into the pipeline, the labor, the people who are slipping through the cracks. is not only good for their lives, you are restoring upward mobility, a sense of achievement, and you are getting people to give back to the economy. when thousands of baby boomers are retiring every day, we need them. it is helping people get their life back together, restore the american idea and this beautiful sense of american upward mobility, and getting faster economic growth. that is our basic approach to doing this. mr. speaker, i like to bring you back to the tax front and give you the opportunity to respond to your critics. on friday -- speaker ryan: is this from your blog? , inhe tax policy center

conjunction with the pen wharton business model, came up with an analysis of the house republican includinghat said, the feedback effect from higher ,dp, which it said would happen the tax plan would increase the deficit by 3 trillion over the next decade, and that effectively all of the benefits would go to the top 1%, with a 1% increase in after-tax income for the middle 20% and a 10% increase for the top 1%. if we give away money, that is what happens. speaker ryan: keynesian versus the classical guy. first of all, i have not seen it. i would look at the tax foundation model which says something different. when i was chair of ways and means, we changed the way we do scorekeeping in the house. we bought three models.

what we are trying to do in close tois to be as reality as we can. it's clear to us that changes in tax affects personal behavior. until this last year, we had to ignore that in congress. we had static modeling. policy, we write tax are guided to take into consideration how best doesn't achieve faster economic growth. that is our goal. if you look at the model we are user in, we don't have any of the deficit affect you are talking about. in this kindtwo, of a tax code, when you cut across the board, you will have that thing you were talking about. but that is then a case to keep individual rates so high that we basically give these other countries our companies. eight out of 10 businesses in america file their taxes as

individuals. their top effective tax rate is 44.6%. in wisconsin, manufacturers compete with the canadians who are taxed at 15%. in treasury and try to be as punitive as you want on people who are inverting. it isn't going to work. they will be bought by foreign companies at the end of the day. when that keeps happening, we lose our seed capital. we lose the executives in milwaukie running the united way campaigns. we lose america's dominance in the global economy. believe you have to convert to a territorial system. you have to get these rates down so they are globally competitive. that,y that we have done most people who get the loopholes and adoptions are on the high end. take away those deductions,

lower our tax rates, and let the economy grow and be competitive. under any kind of analysis, you are going to have what you describe because of the way the tax code is done right now, which is built for low growth or no growth. that is a criticism that i , the specifics, but it is one that you will have to accept to have a fast-growing economy, if you want to have faster economic growth. say we need to simultaneously work on the least among us, getting people from poverty into work. i will take our agenda of upward mobility, poverty reduction and tell welfare reform against the bernie sanders and hillary clinton's ideology and agenda of redistribution and socialism, any day of the week. >> i want to take you back

before speaker, before ways and means, chair of the budget committee. talking about deficits and debts. this is a subject not surfacing much in the campaign. in the unified government you speak of, if we have a tax cut and we increase military spending at the same time, which , i agree that progrowth aspects are very important. but over time, what sort of spending restraint would you think of, principally in entitlement programs, which is where the spending is, would you recommend? speaker ryan: i have spent most of my time in congress doing just this. i see these as simultaneous things. i won't get into how the budget works, but i see them as simultaneously. if you look at our health care plan, it is a replacement plan for obamacare. first time in six years republicans have come up with a consensus replacement plan. that includes entitlement reforms.

don't forget, obamacare was an entitlement bill self. a new not only creating entitlement come in remote the way medicare and medicaid work. our health-care entitlements are the primary drivers of our debts and deficits in the future. if you want to free up fiscal space, like we do for national defense, for the navy and army that we want, for the war on to go where the money is, and that is in mandatory spending. baseline by 2026 medicare, medicaid, social security and interest on the debt consuming 100% of revenues? interestgrams plus our takes all of the money the federal government raises. everything else we do is borrowed. the deficit is kind of an aberration at $549 billion today. it is going to a trillion soon and is not going back down because of 80 boomers retiring,

health-care costs, things that we all agree on. so you have to attack the entitlement reform issue really early, because we can do it on our own terms as a country. by that is the kind of reforms we are proposing do not affect people in or near retirement, so my mom -- i will not say how old she is. she lives in wisconsin in the summer, florida in the winter. been on medicare and social security for a long time. she organize her life around it. alaskan we want to do is change that, pull the rug out from under that social contract that she and everyone else arrange their lives around. that goes with the same for the people about to retire. but you have to change these programs if you are going to prevent them from bankrupting the country. for those of us who are the next

generation, we had to change these programs. we can do it in that way, where it affects people who are younger and does not affect people near retirement, but you keep kicking the can down the road and watch these numbers compound away from us when boomers going into retirement, and we will not be able to get out. we are proposing this. i will not go into the specifics. peter knows them well. there is a plan that we have for medicare. there is a specific plan we have for medicaid reform. does, it prospectively reforms these programs, and as a result, wipes tens of chileans of dollars worth of unfunded liabilities off the books. we pay off our debts so that the next generation inherits a debt we nation. and it frees up that fiscal space for the discretionary things we want to do. like national defense or

education. i think you have to do that immediately in a new government, when we are doing next budget process. that is something we are prepared to do. not some sort of slogan. we have hard work beyond this, which is our plan for january through september of 2017, to get us on path. fight poverty more effectively, reform welfare, replace affordable care act with patient centered health care and entitlement reform, so we can do all these things we want to do. the last thing i would say, health care reform will happen, because obamacare is imploding. united health care left. aetna is gone. the non-for-profits are sticking around. i met with all the actuaries at blue cross blue shield yesterday.

i enjoyed that. the chief actuary stood up and said congress needs to understand -- they call it obamacare, too -- i don't mean any disrespect. obamacare is failing two years ahead of schedule. meaning this thing is not working. it is in what we call a death spiral. we are going to have to change this in. kaiser just said 31% of counties in america only have one plan/ . it is collapsing under its own weight. the best way to address it is to do a much more comprehensive patient centered health care including entitlement reforms that we are putting in black and white. i have written for budgets that do exactly what we want to do. we have shown you that we ready to do what we need to do. that, it will have ouro monetary policy.

don't get me started on that. it will get the fiscal policy off of this current collision course with monetary policy. stabilize investment horizon, stabilize the dollar in the future. and keep the promises to the seniors. government does not have the means of keeping its promises to current seniors, if we stick with the status quo. therefore, we have to fix that. that is all we have time for. thank you. [applause] thanks for the water. [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] not short on point of view, which we are glad to see. , for you, peter, glenn

your questions. by the way, we are going to serve you food. clubext meeting of the will be a dinner event tomorrow evening. that will be with. premier lee of china. we have such an amazing lineup of presenters. this fall, we will have the federal reserve vice chairman stanley fischer, october 17. cook,cal activist shirley october 18. amazon founder jeff bezos, october 27. former mayor mike bloomberg, november 28. dallas federal reserve president ceo rob kaplan, november 30. commodity futures trading commission chairman on december 26. so quite a lineup of speakers. try to get yourself tickets

early because there will be big demand for all of these events. now, enjoy your lunch. thank you. just before mr. lundgren, paul ryan making remarks, taking questions at the economic club of new york. in the house today, they will be in but only for a brief pro forma session. atwill take you to the floor 2:00. members will be back tomorrow for legislative business taking up a bill that would exempt olympic and paralympic athletes from taxes on their medals and prizes. also information sharing and cyber attacks. a ban on u.s. cash payments to your aunt and possible work on a bill that would fund the government short term. current funding expires at the end of the month. go to the white house coverage fix it later as well on the campaign trail with donald trump in fort myers, florida, live at 3:00 eastern. polls are showing a very tight presidential race. before that, the u.s. house is

in for a pro forma session. a look at some of today's "washington journal." "washington journal," we take a look at how your monseat work in a different federal money program. are talking about federal spending to secure voting machines. e're joined by thomas hicks, chair of the u.s. election assistance commission. unfamiliar with the eac, how long have you been around and what is your snigz the actdent bush signed in 2002 and the agency was up and run nothing 2003. agency has given out 3.3 reform to states are electoral process. we help state necessary giving hem best practices and the administration of elections, but e also in charge of the voluntary voting system guidelines, which 47 states out follow.ow it is voluntary system that go intoes integrity of the voting the ss in terms of guidelines set for standards for

the machines themselves. billion given out since the agency was founded. hat is the form that money takes to go to each state? guest: most money has gone of voting acement equipment and allocation developed on two different tracks. normal, just this is amount of money that you will get. there is also calculation based population. host: what was the money intended to do? you define security of voting ng system and machine? guest: money was more than security of the voting systems themselves. administration of elections and many of the problems that were seen in in 2000 were looked at to be alleviated. the major piece that the for the machine necessary terms of machines e that the are secure, making sure that verified for voter accuracy, to make sure that the

who have disabilities can vote independently and privately, but for the most are four or five different types of machines still out there. machines, there are dre machines with paper rails, there are punch card machines, optical scan machines and even states that use plain ballots. host: dre machine, what does mean? >> announcer: direct electronics, people vote on. why five different machines, if there is one you would recommend to a state that works than another? guest: no, the system is derent ralized what may work in new hampshire may not work in washington state or california. instance, washington state, colorado and oregon all vote by mail. allow for, send out ballots to electorate and they the ballots back. host: map from ballot pedia

different voting equipment in each state, the various colors of the states hey are representing a different kind of voting machine. for example, florida, they have includes ipment that paper and -- paper ballot and don't have a that paper trail. two different type of systems used there. you powant to peruse that map k state and go to ballot pedia dot com. voter security, voting machine security with thomas hicks of assistance.n for specifically talking about voter security machine security cycle, is one of the five systems better? guest: i wouldn't say one system the other, an depends on the state and what

sort of thing guess about making votes.out the the overall function of the machines should always be to be ble to cast your ballot and have that ballot counted accurately. we wouldn't say one is better than the other. basically like driving a car. you might have a car, you know, place better to get some than the other? it may be, but it depends on what you're looking for. we can always have a better type of machine and this is why we're reforming voter system guidelines now. guidelines were basically 2007, but that was before the iphone came out. voluntary ng our voting system standards now, working with the national nstitute of standards and technologies and we just had a meet thanksgiving past week to talk more about that. guidelines ave completed by the end of next ear because it is a long, extensive process. host: we're coming up on election in november. land security talked

about cyber security on election systems. here is a bit of what was said. i do think that we should carefully consider whether our election system, our election process is critical infrastructure. like the financial sector, like the election , rocess contributes to -- there is vital national interest in our election process. i do think we need to consider it should be considered by my department and others infrastructure, which has several implications. t becomes very much a part of our focus. host: thomas hicks on that esignation and what that would mean for the job that you do? guest: so we've had a few calls with secretary johnson to talk about this

issue. he secretary of state participate and the f.b.i. has participated in it. we want to make sure we're doing that we can to not elude, not erode voter confidence. so i think that there's a little terms miscommunication in of -- in that states are for help able to ask or making sure their systems are secure. if there are -- the homeland ecurity is able to go in and provide resources to the states to allow for them to have their making sure r they're secure, the states should be asking for it. think that making it a national of infrastructure is something that homeland security has to really think about. is this a situation where you think homeland security is more concerned than the states run the system?

guest: absolutely not. absolutely not. the states have been thinking about this issue for months on and we've worked with various states to ensure that speed with their security. we even have on our website and distributed to many of the states, 10 things to know about managing aging voting equipment. so, we've allowed for states to systems, make sure they are up and running. oddesting and post-election sxit ensure the machines are functioning the way they should be. an ways equate it to in older car, you can, if you have an older car, you will be able car, you rive that want to make sure the maintenance is up to date, make sure oil is changed and tires running, you make sure the fluids are topped off that.ings like that is what we're saying. host: are you confident those 50 differents and the 50 states are ready to go and will

to function correctly in this election cycle? guest: 50 states and five territories. there will be problems there are over 200,000 pieces of voting the country. there will be issues that occur, whether or not -- i believe that election officials have been working very hard to ensure those -- that equipment does well f. they do fall down and if they do go down, i think that the election -- the election officials have contingency plans election will the function smoothly, as well as it can. host: thomas hicks, here to take your calls and questions as we end our program today. he'll be here until 10:00. call now. fort myer, n north florida. a republican. good morning. to c-span and ou thank you mr. hicks for being there. four years ago we had a of situation, we had the scanners and i have a photo

in my phone i just looked up. 10:15 p.m. and the photo shows he ballroom, we live in a retired community, people have scanning stuff in their lap and ball room.und the probably more than an hour away night.oting at 10:15 at four years before that, we had electronic machines and they thrown out because they said no paper trail. it seems to me if you have entire electronic voting machine, it wouldn't take a technology to put a card in there that sent out answer or toll to various places to ensure there was no the ing going on that electronic machines were so much better, the filling in oval every single time. we had people here that -- old removed by be ambulance because the process and on, again, it was 10:15 people hadn't voted.

there were people here well voted 1:00 that hadn't yet. believe it or not, the lady in county f voting in lee is running for re-election, i think that is an awful lot of nerve. put paper ey have trail on electron machines that we had eight years ago? thank c-span? guest: thank you for that question. an lieve that florida makes independent decision on which machines they think is best for their electorate. that i would basically say to you is that one thing alleviate line system having more people working at the polls. it doesn't really matter what machine you're using if you don't have enough poll workers. we're announcing five inners of a contest that we've held on what states and which jurisdictions have the best and rightest poll worker activities. we'll do that this afternoon at eac.gov. are saying and asking for, because we need almost a

to serve as teers, poll workers across this country. and if you have that time, i say to make sure that you o out and you serve as a poll work worker. the other thing i would say and this doesn't directly answer but this week, at the end of this week, 45 days actually election occurs. at that 45-day marker, states out oing to be sending ballots to military and overseas voters so they can get their back here in time for the election itself. is last piece i would say that the machines that you're describing of having a paper it do not actually help those people whoa have isabilities to be able to verify and cast their ballots. one thing that came about with of the voter act was to make sure that individuals who not left ilities are behind, they can vote

independently and privately. ut one thing we're looking at with voluntary voting system guidelines now, is what new use to make itwe more easily -- make it easier to vote and make sure the vote is secure and accurate leaving that we're not our disability friends behind. so thank you for that question. host: and out with a report on voting machines that will be use third degree cycle, stats from report, many of today's voting machines were designed and built in the 1990s. will be using machines at least 10 years old this year. initial cost for replacing nationwide could exceed another billion dollars. we're talk withing thomas hicks the u.s. election assistance commission about voting machines security. and voting folks waiting to talk to you in kentucky. line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks to c-span for taking my call. question is, vote

electronically and the votes are tabulated and sent automatically electronically. agency doing to prevent hacking what kind of firewall to prevent hacking from russia and other places? thank you very much. guest: thank you for the question. coming down to kentucky last november to watch state elections. one thing that i felt secure votes as the way that the are actually tabulated and that he votes are not sent electronically over the intern sxet one thing i want to make here is i'm clear on that no system that certified by the ac, is hooked up to internet. as long as states do not use hook up machines to the internet, there is no way to ack the machines using the internet. lots of cars come with different features and voting machines come with a number of features.

as long as features are turned making sure mend the features are turned off, here will be no hacking of the system by anyone. election officials have thought and they've prepared for this long before we had foreign ut the nationals attacking the dnc or our voting pects of systems. ventura, e in california, a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. little d listening a while ago. you mentioned how much money allocated. was it in the millions or billions, can you repeat that? you. guest: sure, 3.3 billion was to the states nt help fix programs. ost went to purchase of new voting equipment tis statewide

data base set up for voter new ruleos , provisional ballot and other as well. host: what was your question, nne? caller: he said some went toward administration, how much went oward administration, instead of equipment? guest: administration of equipment, poll worker training basically other things like everyone might not see. a lot of people see voting workers and poll don't see other aspects as in voter registration list or the set up.es caller: administration would be people for those job? $3.3 billion he would that be? say : when i

administration, i don't mean democratic or republican administration going on with presidency, i mean administration of the systems themselves. the states, when they get that funding, we audit all this money, we want to make sure moneys are not being used for political means, they are of the betterment election system themselves and voters are getting the value for money. ost: dennis, line for democrats. go ahead. caller: good morning, i'm alling from lee county, florida. yes, we did have problems back n the last couple of cycles, but most of those have been ddressed and to the gentleman in north fort myers, we do have a paper ballot. that do not want to be standing in long lines, there is early voting here. if you don't want to stand in line at all, call up the lee they'll ections and send out two registered voters ballots and mail it out to

return postage on it, all you have to do is fill it out properly and send it back them. as far as i know, i haven't heard of anything as far as any or any abuse here in lee votes., as far as maybe 10 people in the last country, roughout the there was abuse, but there was all i've ever heard. people, it is your right to but if there and vote, you don't want to stand in line, absentee mail-in ballot is available to you nationwide. saying evious caller that the need for paper trail was contributing to the line n. of paper trail, jody on twitter writes not having paper suggest recount vote mistake we made before we had the paper trail, is what t bad history, she's asked. anything you want to touch on?

guest: no, i think the caller on the nail in saying there are multiple ways o cast a ballot during the election season and one thing pushing eac has been for this month, october and worker , is poll appreciation. but one thing that is occurring ext week is national voter registration day. we encourage people to look at their registration to ensure registration is up to date and it is accurate and that if that they don't really want to have a machine that trail, cugoe a paper out and, like this caller said, for the bsentee ballot states that have no excuse absentee balloting to vote election day. for a few more calls. the numbers if you want to join in, democrats 202-748- 8000, 8001.licans 202-748-

202-748-8002. venice, florida. desiree is a republican. good morning. caller: hi, good morning. thanks for taking my call. want this to sound or sarkastic, but face the truth, the integrity of the is obviously important. ut this, we weren't so concerned eight years ago in the election when there were double more than ple voting vaded there was darth voted, scoobey-doo voted, dead voted. are these machines going to prevent that from happening? is focus -- i have my thoughts of why cyber security part is be fog cussed on now. get w where they are withing that, but down to the

states, el and all the it doesn't, it doesn't matter whether you punch in the people that are monitor these things are letting in and be go counted. how is that going to be prevented? fraud?ow to fix election guest: one way to prevent this, serve as a poll worker yourself that if you see folks who are basically trying to stuff the ballot box, which i really don't actually happening, i don't think i have seen votes by or mickey mouse. host: are there statos election fraud? going to say it never happens, we have 100 ballots, eople casting but there are thing necessary place to prevent election fraud, weically like making sure if have more poll workers, we can integrity hat we the of the system is seen from the

inside and therefore have you in it.nfidence so the i believe that this is that is l issue actually happening, but i think that, you know, i want to take seriously f. there are things and you know of these folks who are casting ballots, need to report that to the proper authorities. host: who are the proper suspects fist somebody election fraud? who can they call? guest: election officials, the department of justice. if you commit election fraud, that is a crime. also, i want to make sure that we put on the record here, intimidation is also a piece of voter fraud. if you are preventing people ballots or basically questioning someone because you feel they are not a citizen or that they're not eligible just because of the way are things k, those in terms of intimidation, you gets not things the eac into, that is department of

justice. i would say that we want to those folks k to about those issues. host: woodbridge, virginia, independent, go ahead. aller: when is national voter registration day? guest: september 27th. caller: okay. like to address, i've seen on television and lines atces long, long voter -- at voting day. wondering, is there any way this can be remedied? where in le don't have to stand line for hours in order to cast a ballot? one thing a caller addressed earlier, vote by absentee ballot. that absentee ballot, i suggest if you want to are at now to ensure there no long lines at the polls, for st absentee ballots, states that have that voting. for the state of virginia, i an excuse has to be for it n. woodbridge, if have

or to journ tow dc to work if you can't stand in line for hours on end, i would say you talk to the prince william county registrar's you get d ensure that the information that you need to cast your ballot ahead of election day. in the ballot back in so you don't feel if you are nothing line stand for multiple hours. hudson, k to florida, florida, loretta, line for democrats. good morning. good morning, thank you cspan. i'm 80 years old and worked on election boards through the years. i started out when they had nothing but paper ballots counted by hand. years, they developed system the automated with the little clicky tab that candidateown for each and now in my home state of

down here, they have the paper ballots that you through a ey are put reader. i saw on facebook not too long thing where the card that reader was into the altered. they tried it -- they had a test of eight people. they tried it two or three times the way ver came out those people voted. i'm more concerned about that having having illegals vote o dead people voting. since i worked with computers for a long, long time, i know it can be done and i wonder how it you.e fixed? thank guest: one thing i would suggest is talking to your local because the cial, local election official, state, all want the ral, same thing, confidence in our

election process. thing that i'm very confident in is security of those machines. machines are put away and and e before election day on election day, they are out secured are still being and one of the things you should be aware of is that most of things that you are seeing on the internet comes with the hered access to machines themselves. have it down and untethered access to a machine, ki get into that, break into it alter any sort of votes to it. those machines used on election have that unfettered access. republicans go ahead. it was stated earlier that the machines, the way they there is d so forth, so forth. and

there is backup, if not backup for the voting electronically, there be two servers nvolved and taking those votes to make sure that there is no voter fraud or wherever involved. guest: so that i'm answering hearing your i'm correctly, you're basically saying that these when people vote these votes go on to electronic server, that would mean they are going over the internet, these votes that are done here in the united states n those voting equipment are not hooked up to the internet. they are not sent electronically, there is no we take you live to the floor of the u.s. house.

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., september 19, 2016. i hereby appoint the honorable george