brain injury. it also supports an effort we started to bring doctors and the data together to develop treatments and health care that can one day be tailored specifically for you. that could lead to some big breakthroughs. the cure act includes bipartisan health reforms, including important programs for suicide prevention. and we are making sure the fda incorporates patient voices, your voices into the decision they make as they develop drug -- as they develop drugs. that is what the act is all about. this week the house passed it overwhelmingly and in bipartisan fashion. the senate will vote in the next few days. and i hope they will do the same. as it sign it as soon reaches my desk. like a lot of people i've lost people i loved deeply to cancer. i hear every day from americans whose loved ones are suffering from addiction. i believe we should seize every

chance we have to find cures as soon as possible. when it is your family, hope cannot come soon the enough. thanks, everybody, and have a great weekend. >> hello, i am dr. john brosseau. united states senator for wyoming. in small towns and big cities, families have spent the last seven years struggling under the health care law known as obama care. last month americans demanded accountability and voted for change. they are tired of living under a costly and complicated health care law that broke one promise after another. in a gallup poll, eight out of every 10 americans favored changing the health care law significantly or replacing it altogether. the election gives all of us the opportunity to take back control of our health care. americans can look for to getting the care they need from the doctor they choose at a lower cost.

that means a health insurance that meets your family's needs. not what washington demands that you have. patientsre that lets and doctors decide what is desperate -- best for their families health. not what the government decides. and health insurance you can afford. no amount of taxpayer bailout is going to make obamacare work. it needs to be replaced and repealed. repeal is only the first step. it clears the path for a replacement that costs less and works better than what we have now. the mandate that people must by government approved insurance must be eliminated. more than 20 obamacare taxes would be repealed. people have the faith inflexibility to make their own decisions about health care. americans would be able to use health savings accounts for the care that they believe is best for themselves and their families, and it is that it would be easier to buy insurance

across state lines. and people with pre-existing conditions will be protected. my wife is a breast cancer survivor. so i understand how critical it is that people with pre-existing conditions not lose their insurance. as a doctor who also served as a wyoming state legislature, i know one size does not fit all. states are much better at knowing what works best for their people. that's why they will get the power to run their own medicaid programs. over the years since obamacare was passed, we heard from people every day how the law has hurt them personally. we are listening, and we are keeping our promise. when someone in your family is sick, you should only have to worry about their health, not health insurance. now many democrats in congress

have already shown they will refuse to help us find that way. they have sworn to defend obama care, no matter what it costs to you. i hope they reconsider and work with us for better health care for all americans. we are going to do everything we can't reverse the damage done by obamacare and do it as smoothly as possible. we are going to do everything we can't to reverse the damage done by obamacare and do it as smoothly -- we can to reverse the damage done by obamacare and do it as smoothly as possible. step-by-step, we will put patients back in charge, bring down the cost for families, and make sure that having health insurance actually mean something this time. thank you for listening. journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. onday morning, the research

illegal voting in the united states. melissa yeager discusses her work on tracking conflicts of interest when it comes to trump's business holdings. washington bureau chief for the german magazine will talk about u.s.-european relations under the trump administration. watch washington journal live at 7:00 a.m. eastern sunday. join the discussion. welcome to obama several military families to the white house this week for the unveiling of this year's holiday decorations. after that, a discussion with israel's defense minister on u.s.-israel relations. al gore talks about

environmental policy, including efforts to combat climate change. >> the holiday theme at the white house this year is the gift of the holidays. tens of thousands of christmas pound gingerbread replica of the white house, and 56 miniature gingerbread houses made from legos that represent each u.s. state and territory.

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>> for a look at the white house christmas decorations. she thanked them for their sacrifices and service to the country. afterwards, she joined some of the children for holiday crafts. [applause]

>> hi everybody. look how good you look. are you ready for some action? are you sure? you don't want cookies or anything like that. you think you want some cookies? ok? we will get to it. i want to welcome everyone to the white house. thank you for the wonderful introduction and for all of her service in hard work helping to make this home so beautiful. i want to give a thank you to all of the volunteers who traveled here from 33 states to d.c. and puerto rico, to come here and put up these beautiful decorations and transform this white house. i am so grateful to you all.

last celebrate my family's holiday in the white house, i'm thinking back to when we first came here to washington. we promised open this house to as many people from as many backgrounds as possible. we truly wanted to make the white house the people's house. particularly during the holiday season. over the past eight years, through the seasons, we worked hard to achieve that goal by welcoming almost a half million guests to this house during the season. and thanks to our amazing volunteers, we are adorned the white house with about half million ornaments for our guests to enjoy. and way brought smiles to the faces of all those who enjoyed the 200,000 holiday cookies

prepared by our outstanding pastry chefs. you all will get to have some are those today. that will make 200,020 or so. looking back, i'm proud to say we did our very best during the holidays to make americans of all backgrounds and walks of life feel comfortable and welcomed here in our nation's house. and we do all of this with the help of our extraordinary staff. yes, we have wonderful volunteers. though we have folks who, each year, take a very limited budget and very little resources and they make miracles happen in this house. so for our final holiday preview, i want to take a moment to highlight just a few of the amazing folks who worked tirelessly behind the scenes. i don't know they know if they are -- if they know i am calling them out. felicia dyer, the office -- our social secretary. there you are. [applause] thank you.

and you are going to see chris, referred and susie morrison, our executive chef and our executive pastry chef. i want to thank them both, as well as the chef and the staff in the kitchen who worked so hard to do everything possible to make these holidays terrific. i want to thank all of our ushers, who never get credit. i know they are around here working away, but they are the people who greet you and make sure that things are moving like they should in this house. our florists, who are tremendous. and i rarely get to thank our electricians, and our carpenters, because they make sure the chandeliers are moved and structures are built so that we can put things on them. and they do this in a matter of days. they turn this house upside down. and to our calligraphers. you will see all of their

handiwork throughout the hour limits -- throughout the ornaments. and i always want to thank our incredible marine band, who you hear from throughout the season. i has been's free rate musical -- favorite musical grew is -- my husband's favorite musical crew is our own marine band. on behalf of the entire obama family, me, barack, moliere, sasha -- malia, sasha, sunny, bo. we are grateful for everything you have done for us over the years. so let's give them a round of applause. [applause] so before i get choked up, let me officially kick off our final white house holiday season. and as always, today, we are celebrating with our extraordinary military

community, and our military families. we have our service members. we have veterans here. we have wounded warriors. we have our military spouses. [applause] you go, spouses. and of course, we have our outstanding, handsome, beautiful, smart, talented, engaging military kids. are there any here/[laughter] oh, here they are. let's give them a round of applause. [applause] for the past eight years, celebrating the holidays and having you all be the first that see the decorations, this has been one of our favorite white house traditions. it reminds us that, between all the shopping lists and the travel plans and all those big meals, that we cannot forget what the holidays are really about annual help us. our military families, like all of you remind us what matters. you serve this country in

uniform or you hold everything together here at home as a military spouse or you prepare to attend another new school as a military kid. and there's that one back there talking about i don't know what . [laughter] but there is a little one back there who has a lot to say. but you all find time to contribute to your communities into this country. you do it all. you volunteer at local food banks. you coach sports teams on weekends. many of you have even cut your thanksgiving holiday short to come here and decorate the white house. just another example. we have hazel up here. but one of our volunteers, jaclyn james from redlands, california -- is jaclyn here so we can really embarrass her? she is probably still working. we will do a reception for our volunteers later. but let me tell you about

jaclyn. during her husband's 22 years in the military, her family spent the holidays in five different states and even on a base overseas. during that time, they managed to raise seven kids. two weeks ago, they celebrated the birth of their 15th grandchild. but their family service to this country did not end when jaclyn's husband retired. they watched two of their sons do tours in both iraq and afghanistan. and even though jaclyn does not consider herself the most artistic decorator, she volunteered at the white house this year because -- and this is what she said -- she said, if patriotism is an art, she said than i am a master. [laughter] it's that kind of commitment to serving others. that is what the holidays are truly about. and that is what we honor with our holiday decorations every year at the white house. and this year's holiday theme is the gift of the holidays. and as usual, we will be

celebrating our country's greatest gifts with special decorations celebrating our military families. down in the booksellers, when you walk in, the visitors that come will see a tree and a flag display composed of pictures of military families who my husband and i have met on bases and in communities around the world over the course of our time here. the tree is hung with a gold ornaments honoring america's greatest heroes. the men and women who have given their lives for our country. and right next to those displays is an ipad station that allows guests to send holiday wishes to our service members. and we are hoping that each of the 68,000 guests that are going to visit during the holiday season will take a moment to pause and send a message to express their gratitude. after that, they will move on to see a number of other decorations that celebrate the gifts we share as a nation. for example, in the library, we

are honoring the gift of a great education, which is important, right? school, college, all of that. and we have trees in the library made out of kranz and pencils. you have to check that out if you have not -- made out of crayons and pencils. you have to check that out if you have not already. we've got to trees that are decorated with special ornaments, each of which has the word "girl" in one of a dozen different languages. so when guests head upstairs to this floor, they will see that, in the green room, it is filled with decorations representing the gifts provided by our white house kitchen garden, with trees hung with organ immense -- with ornaments in the shape of bees and frutits. -- fruit. we have air 19 foot tall christmas tree.

it's really big. they have to take out the chandeliers and rearrange everything just to get the tree in the house. that is in the blue room. in the state dining room, you will spot the official white house gingerbread house. so when you see it, everything on it is something you can eat. and our pastry chefs have worked very hard to make this house possible. it is beautiful. it has a replica of the new white house garden and bo and sonny and lots of cool stuff. the trees in that room, there are 56 lego gingerbread houses, representing every single state and territory in america. and somewhere in the house we have supersized replicas of bo and sonny guarding their presents because we don't let them have their presents. [laughter] i'm just kidding. they get to have them. people who come through these

halls over the next few weeks will see about -- how many ornaments do you think are in this house? six? [laughter] 10? [laughter] a hundred? getting closer. 9000? let me tell you. it is 70,000 ornaments. i was pretty shocked at that. so we can't wait. that's a lot of ornaments. but we can't wait to start welcoming people into their white house this holiday season. and to everyone who created these stunning displays, all our volunteers, all the folks who helped make this happen, i want to -- i want to once again say thank you. you did a phenomenal job once again in turning this house into a magical place. those of you who are here today and those around the world, i want to once again honor you for your service and your sacrifice

and your love of this nation. it is a love that my family and i share along with you. it has been such a complete pleasure to support you in this time. so i want to wish everyone a happy, healthy holiday season. all right? and with that, we get to have some fun, ok? are you guys ready? i'm just talking to the kids here. [laughter] you guys don't get to have fun, but here's what you get. we will take your children from you for a moment. they are still here. they can hear you. and you can enjoy some cider and some cookies. and you guys want to come with me. when get some surprises in the back. and your parents will be here. we will try to bring them back in one piece. i cannot guarantee that they

will be neat. there is dye and food color. sorry. [laughter] all of it is washable. are you ready to come and join me? thank you all so much. come to the white house. it's really cool. take care. [applause] [indiscernible conversation]

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>> how's it going? did you get everything?

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>> president obama and his family were present for the national christmas tree lighting, which took place not too far from the white house. here is a portion of that ceremony. ♪ >> hello. good evening. are you guys staying warm? parkme to the presidents in washington for the 94th national christmas tree lighting. what a wonderful night we have here. the holidays are about family we traditions, and tonight

familiesul of our own and the families of our men and women serving in uniform. are service and sacrifice an inspiration to all americans. millions will be celebrating this season with their own holiday traditions. tonight we are glad you have joined us here for a traffic night of music and more. let's hear it for the united states airmen. it is my great honor to welcome the first family of the united states.

>> hello everybody. holidays to all of you. i want to thank you for the wonderful hosting. kelly clarkson, everybody watching at home. it is officially the time to light this tree. are you guys ready to count down? going to start from five. are you sure? let's go. 1.4, 3, 2, [applause] obama: merry christmas

everybody. ♪ ♪ unfoldsn, where history daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. fillmore was the first first lady to work outside

the home, teaching in a private school. jacqueline kennedy was responsible for the creation of the white house historical association. nancy reagan, as a young -- she, saw her name appealed to ronald reagan for help. she later became his wife. these stories appear in "first ladies." the book makes a great gift for the holidays, giving readers a look at the personal lives of every first lady in american history. stories of fascinating women and how their legacies resonate today. first ladies in paperback, published b