of the american health care paradox, what they pointed out was we had the accident on the wrong syllable. we are spending our money on health care, getting worse health results. in those countries that spend roughly two times on social services and social benefits, compared to what they spend on health have better health outcomes. >> we will show that entire event later today at six eastern on c-span. >> the republican party hosted their second annual kennedy clinton dinner. by 2020 president of candidate and congressman tim ryan. this is a few hours 15 minutes. -- two hours 15 minutes.

>> new hampshire democrats, please welcome to the stage chairman ray buckley. >> 2018 is coming. yesterday we launched a project to keep sununu accountable. his friends on corporate special-interest. of his phony doublespeak. we're calling them out.

our focus is five key issues. and we can't hold them accountable alone. we need your help. check onnu reality facebook, go to our website, sununuoner new -- realitycheck.com. in 2016.unu won by 2% let's get to work. everyone clear with our focuses?

-- focus is? in the next 11 months? that we joined by congas men and presidential candidate john delaney. congressman tim ryan. my good friend, congresswoman and vice chair. congressman andy custer. tonight dinner is a chance to pause and reflect on the year we have had. new hampshire democrats have a lot to celebrate.

the first all democratic, all-female congressional delegation in history. incredibly important battles to protect the progress we have concorda showing up in across the state and no cross the country. -- and across the country. this year we have won eight out of 10 special elections. five and republican districts.

senate election victory since 1984. we have won special elections across the state. sherpa county, and rockingham county. put, there is no district that a democratic candidate who works hard can't win in 2018. be enough to celebrate, but it's not all we did. this november, we broke records across the state in our incredible municipal victories. the first elected mayor in manchester -- first elected women marrying manchester's history. -- woman mayor in manchester's history.

[applause] her victory lifted from red to blue since 2003. and in nashua. sweet nashua. we pulled off a queen -- a clean a,ep thanks to dave ken's shoshana kelly, and brandon laws. shoshana kelly and linda became the first-ever women of color .lected to the national board

now think about this. nashua had a today republican mayor and haven't had one for 25 years. on thepublican majority alderman and school board members. have overwhelming majority on both. let's here for the national see democrats. and jerry cannon became the memberver school board -- congratulations.

it's been a long time coming. and jeremy hutchison became the counselor lgbtq city in rochester history. and openly gay rochester mayor dana hilliard was reelected to his third term. berlin mayor paul grenier was reelected to a record fifth consecutive term. concord mayor jim bouley was elected to a record sixth consecutive term. election night was a historic night of record of 110 women, young democrats, persons of color, the lgbtq community, and a great night for democrats. but folks, we have a lot to accomplish. we need to make chris sununu a one term governor. [applause]

we need to hold on to the first and second congressional districts. we need to win majorities on the council, the senate, and the house. democrats, with our success of 2017, we have the team, the energy, and attitude to win in 2018. so let's go do it. [applause] so there is another line here that they added in since i last saw it. i was reading it and i was thinking, there is another line. the line is -- for all of you wonderful yankees this will be the best line of the night -- please don't forget, take the pumpkins at the conclusion of the program. the centerpieces are yours.

[applause] we have got a full program tonight, but i want to start and take a moment to acknowledge our fantastic staff. our executive director, amy kennedy. [applause] communications director wyatt roden. political director aaron trammell. finance director dallas thompson. operations director peter kramer. communications assistant sarah guggenheim. er. deputy political advisor donald stokes. county organizer aaron cotton. grassroots coordinator. deputy operations director ethan moorhouse. our phenomenal intern. and let's also acknowledge our house and senate caucus director nick taylor. the house and senate caucus finance director, michael kennedy. and the new hampshire young

democrats executive director, representative amelia keane. [applause] we are so lucky and so proud to have the best damn party staff in the country. let's take a moment to acknowledge our officers. first vice chair, senator martha fuller clark. our second vice chair. our secretary. our treasurer brian mast. legal counsel bill christie. finance chair katie wheeler. dnc woman county sullivan. -- cathy sullivan.

dnc man bill shaheen. and dnc at-large member joann dardell. [applause] thank you, everyone. let's have a great night. [applause] new hampshire democrats, to lead us in the pledge of allegiance, please welcome the newly elected at-large members of the nashua board of aldermen, shoshanna kelly, dave tencza, and brandon laws. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [applause]

>> new hampshire democrats, please welcome to the stage manchester's mayor elect, joyce craig. ♪ >> the manchester folks are the loudest.

i am honored to welcome you here tonight as the mayor elect of manchester and as the first woman elected to lead the queen city. it is so wonderful to be here with all of you. so many of you joined the hundreds of manchester residents in knocking on thousands of doors, making phone calls, sharing our campaign's message with your friends, neighbors, colleagues. your work over the many months really make the difference, and i will forever be grateful for your support.

i want to offer a special thank- you to senators hassan and shaheen and congresswoman kuster and shea-porter for their support and encouragement. new hampshire has led the way in demonstrating that we all do well when women serve in leadership roles, and i am thankful -- [applause] ms. craig i am so thankful to have four outstanding role models. and thank you to chairman buckley and the staff for your support of the campaign and for organizing tonight's festivities. i would also like to thank congressmen delaney and ryan for their support during our campaign, and also congresswoman meng for being with us tonight. while i'm extremely proud of our efforts to bring change to city hall, i know the real work begins now. as mayor, i will focus on improving our schools, making our streets safer, bringing businesses to our cities, and making real and lasting progress against the opioid crisis. [applause] thank you. manchester's best days are still ahead of us, and i hope you all will join me in building a better future for the people of manchester, because we all know that when manchester prospers, so does the rest of our great state.

thank you all, and i look forward to this wonderful evening. [applause] >> new hampshire democrats, please welcome to the stage congresswoman carol shea-porter. ♪ [applause] >> it is i who have to thank all of you. i am so grateful for the gift that you gave me to serve new hampshire and all the help that came from across the state over and over again. so i want to thank all of you and say we are not done yet. we are not done. we have a lot of work to do. you heard what the chairman had

to say. i am sitting here with some wonderful colleagues and i know we are going to turn this around in 2018. a full reckoning is coming -- soon, very soon. when i decided to run in 2006, i said i was running for the rest of us. throughout the time, we have had different slogans that we have used, keeping that, for the rest of us, the bottom 99%. then it started to be serious since donald trump came. so i started running through some slogans that would help me every single day. one of them was from winston churchill, very helpful lately. he said when you are going through hell, just keep going. he said a number of things like that.

then i started thinking of my own slogans, because we have to stick together. we have shown what we do when we stick together. we have done great things and we will continue to do great things. but sometimes there are things we don't like, somebody said this or thinks that or something out of washington. so now when i look at myself in the mirror every morning, i say to myself, shut up and row. [laughter] that's at least my message right now. we are confronted with a president we never could have imagined. we would have laughed about it and said it is not possible in this country. we are confronted with an administration and a president the challenges all of us. thing is we are a very good people and we know

what we need to do. and we are organized every day. greatnesday i had the privilege of hearing tony bennett, and he received a reward for music. 91 years old. he came out running faster than joyce and i did. when it was time for him to give , he just stood there i wasn't prepared, america is the greatest country in the world, and that is the best speech i have ever heard. because that is who we are, that is what we are. we will overcome this. together and when we get to shore, and we will, we can pull out and say should we go left or right.

we will get ourselves out of this. joyce, i can't tell you -- if i didn't have a wonderful mayor in rochester, i would be looking to move to manchester. we have everything we need, new hampshire young democrats, which have done tremendous work. we see the deep bench. i love the candidates running in my seat, i think it is awesome and i think it will help amplify our message and the rest of our state will be able to hear what we stand for, because we know what we stand against. we stand against tyranny. he stand against the construction of the administrative state. we stand against the violation of human dignity and rights and all that. but we also stand for economic security. we stand for advantage for everybody, fairness, supporting business and families and individuals.

we have something we can be very proud of. we have a marquee that has all of our good stuff on it. now we just need to stand together and put this message out across our state. we will win. we will win, and we will win because we have something they don't have. we are right. we are on the right side of history. [applause] rep. shea-porter: no question about it. and people are realizing that around the country. they are realizing that this agenda is the agenda that will help lift them and their families. so i just want to say thank you for your confidence in me and the hard work that you have done and say i'm not going away. i plan to be very involved. we will get through 2018, and then, we all have a really big lift, which is called the 2020 presidential election. we will get it done right here in new hampshire.

thank you, everybody. i love all of you, and i am so grateful. thank you. [applause] >> new hampshire democrats, please welcome to the stage former nhdp chair kathy sullivan. [cheers and applause] girl is on fire this girl is on fire ♪ [applause] ms. sullivan: i know, i came on stage before they did my walk on music, i was so anxious.

i want to say a few things about carol shea-porter, because she was my congresswoman, and i was always so proud to have csp as my congresswoman. [applause] ms. sullivan: every vote she took was always the right vote. and she was always there, as she said, fighting for the rest of us. she -- i remember the first time i met carol, she came to my office and talked about running for congress. i was quite impressed. and at that point, she had stood up and protested the policies of george w. bush. [applause] ms. sullivan: she went to geoff riley's town halls, knew his record better than he did, and was able to ask him the pointed question that drove him crazy. but one thing i will always remember about carol shea-porter is she made me cry once.

she may not know this story, but a lot of people do because some of you were there when this happened. it was the night of the election 2006, when she was running for congress the first time. and i was in manchester at the coordinated campaign headquarters. and, you know people say, you , must have known you were going to have a good night. no, i always think we are going to lose. i had a good feeling about john lynch, ok? but other than that -- and judy and i had been driving around all day going to different goals. at one point i called to headquarters and said, how's it looking? and mike and nick were like, the turnout is not the way it should be in some of the districts. i was like, i knew it. i knew it. course, it was really the best night of my political life, because we came

from losing badly in 2002 to coming back in 2004. and then 2006, the results are coming in and we are all , standing there, and the numbers are coming up, this town, that town. john lynch was winning, things were looking good, some senate races, we are all feeling really good. but things in the first district, a little close. and then epping came in, and carol won epping. and i started crying. paul was there and he was like, i am going to take a picture of you crying, and i was like, get that camera away from me. i am crying because when carol won epping, i knew she was going to be our congresswoman, and i knew we were winning everything that night. and that is the night that carol shea-porter made me cry, because she took epping.

and she has been, through her career political career, one of , the most courageous people you could ask for. when she -- [applause] sullivan: i mean this is , someone who -- no secret -- when she ran for congress, people were like, i don't know about this. people in washington were not necessarily supportive. but she came out and surprised the heck out of everybody and won that primary and said -- and then won the general election, was reelected, and then lost a race in a republican wave year. but she came back. she came back. she did not give up. she came back, and she ran again. when we had another republican and then, wave year and her opponent lied about her and ran a tv ad lying about her and unfortunately defeated her, she came back again.

she didn't -- she never said, "i'm done" in the light of events where some people might have said, "i have done enough." but she always came back and picked herself up. it is not just because of the work she did in congress for veterans and the middle class and working people, but also because she just always came back and fought back. that is why i am so proud to give you -- and i'm going to cry again because i'm going to miss you -- the kathy sullivan courage award, because you deserve it, congresswoman. [applause]

rep. shea-porter: thank you. i just said to kathy, i wondered why you kept talking about me. thank you very much. i am so honored. what kathy sullivan does not say about herself is there might be a tougher irish woman around, but i don't think so. and thank you,y, everybody. i am so honored. [applause] >> new hampshire democrats, please welcome to the stage congresswoman grace meng. >> ♪ tonight is the night we will fight till it's over put your hands up like the city can't hold us like the city can't hold us ♪ ♪ [applause] rep. meng: thanks, ray. good evening, everyone.

it is great to be in the granite state. for dialing the temperature up 10 degrees for me. thank you, chairman buckley, for your wonderful welcome to this great state and for your wonderful welcome and your friendship. it truly means the world to me. ray is one of the reasons i was elected to be a vice chair of the dnc. on a good dnc newsday, i'm so thankful to him. thank you for your friendship. it truly means the world to me. ray is one of the reasons i was elected to be the vice-chairman of the dnc. on a good dnc newsday, i am so thank all to him. [laughter] which means on most a of the year, i am not. [laughter] but in all seriousness, it means the world to me to share the stage this evening with three of the four great women who represent the great state of new hampshire. you have heard lots already tonight about congresswoman carol shea-porter, who was my classmate as well going to congress. and she gives a new meaning, as you know more than anyone else,

phrase "never give up" and always keep getting up. thank you for your service. [applause] to senator maggie hassan, who has broken so many barriers, not just for women but for all americans. she only saves health care for the whole country. [applause] meng: and in my closest friends in congress, also my, classmate congresswoman annie custer. [applause] rep. meng: who really has no ego and the fights that she leads in congress whether it is working , on workforce development for

combating opioid abuse and sexual harassment in the workplace. nie just gets it done and never cares about whether her name is on the bill or news conference. [applause] rep. meng: i'm also honored to be here with two of my colleagues and friends, congressman john delaney and congressman tim ryan and his wife, as well. [applause] rep. meng: right now, the national media is still focused on a democratic victory that occurred in virginia recently. but we know that the victory of 2017 began right here in new hampshire. [applause] rep. meng: and continue to happen, winning eight special

s,ections in four trie electing the mayor of manchester. congratulations, joyce, and averaging 53% of the votes in districts where republicans have a registration advantage is incredible no matter what state you are from. now, i will be honest. we know the path we're taking in congress in 2018 and in the white house in 2020 will not be an easy one. just as the wins we witnessed here in new hampshire and recently in virginia were not easy. wins were the result of days, months, and years of hard work, often unseen and underappreciated. added is that same dedication that will make future victories possible, and, frankly, to each of you here tonight, i say now

more than ever, we need to continue to fight, to fight on behalf of every single american. and that is part of our party's message, that we do fight for everyone. no one gets left out. winning races is a great feeling, but ensuring our areow citizens' concerns heard in the policy-making process is a much better one. at this point in american history, we are not just fighting for a new deal again. we are fighting for the basic right to a fair deal. when republicans in congress ultratax cuts for the wealthy and want to slash medicaid and social security, we must say no. >> no! meng: when corporations try to offshore even more american

jobs, we must say -- >> no! rep. meng: when the president seeks district millions of residents from their health care and separates dreamers from their families and the only home they have known, we must say -- >> no! rep. meng: these issues are not available. they are about common -- decency and dignity. there about our shared economic security. everywhere we go into -- and i am sure my colleagues hear it -- people keep asking, what is our message. important tose have a message, but, there are many places in america through the last election and the last two years where we might not even have had a messenger. we keep debating amongst ourselves, within our democratic family whether we should be talking to the communities of color, whether we should be talking to people in rural

communities, or whether we should be talking to the people in the white working class. whether you are part of an emerging community of first-generation americans, or whether you are part of a community that is emerging into a new era with new ideas and new industries that your parents and grandparents could never have dreamed of, it is the democratic party that will fight to give you the fair deals that we need to succeed. we don't have to choose who we talked to. that is not what our party is about. we can do it all. we fight to make sure that every single voice is heard and valued. and it is not just the urgency of our fight, but it is the quality of our fight. it is our democratic party, as we just saw with the tax votes in congress. it is our party that fights for every american. you know as a vice chair of the , new dnc, that is our message. that we have learned a lesson that swooping into a race a few weeks before election day isn't helpful.

it is not effective, and it is not even respectful. [applause] meng: the work put in everyday between today and election day, whether it is fund-raising, building better tools for our activist, crafting better messages, or ensuring state and local parties have the resources they need to succeed, election day, whether it that is the task at hand and we do it so we can talk and communicate with every american. i am committed to ensuring these things are happening at the dnc, and i need every person here to remain committed to specific fight that you are fighting here at home. we need you. we cannot be successful without you. i am all in. i have two young boys at home, ages eight and nine, the i look -- that i look forward to talking into bed -- tucking into

tonight,row night, but i stand here with you and our shared fight to build a better future for their generation, to offer them a better view than the one that we were offered. it reminds me of a story. my husband and i always tell our boys to keep fighting, never to give up when they do that on their math tests, when they miss that soccer goal during soccer, when they have trouble with the friend, just to keep trying, keep persisting and never give , up. and one day, i was putting my son to bed. he was seven at the time. he said he wanted to go to the toy store. it was dark out. it was late. i said, "you know what? it is probably closed. " he looks at me with all seriousness, and he says, "mom, you told me to never give up."

[laughter] rep. meng: as i mentioned, we need you. our party needs you. we need you, and we need new people. we need more people. america needs you. we need to be there for that woman whose life was saved because her breast cancer was detected early enough at the local planned parenthood clinic. [applause] rep. meng: we need to be there for our neighbors in rural america, whose top export has become grandchildren. we need to be there for the families, multigenerational families, who are dealing with the serious effects of substance abuse. [applause] rep. meng: and we need to be there to fight with our allies and friends in labor for a

living wage for americans so that -- [applause] rep. meng: so that a single mom who is working two to three jobs cannot come home and tell her kids that she still cannot afford to get them a christmas gift. [applause] rep. meng: our work is not done. it has just begun. in the words of the great son of new hampshire, the poet robert frost, "we have miles to go before we sleep. miles to go before we sleep." thank you for your time tonight. thank you for fighting for america. [applause] >> new hampshire democrats,

please welcome to the stage congresswoman annie custer. ♪ [applause] >> ♪ happy because i'm happy ♪ ♪ congresswoman custer: good evening, new hampshire democrats and welcome to the resistance. [applause] congresswoman custer thank you : for spending the day with me in new hampshire. thank you for your incredible leadership and courage and for hanging in there when times get tough and never taking no for an answer. i'm really grateful to have you as my colleague. thank you. [applause] congresswoman custer: i am excited to welcome my colleagues, john delaney and tim ryan.

this is how we choose the next president of the united states, so welcome to new hampshire. [applause] congresswoman custer: i am so thankful to be here. we are missing her tonight, i am glad she is keeping the world safe for democracy. hassan whoie , literally has her finger in the dike. you all elected her by 1000 votes out of 700,000 votes castn and without her, tens of millions of people, including 110,000 people right here in new hampshire, would have lost their health insurance, so give maggie a big cheer, and thank you for electing her. [applause] congresswoman custer: and while

you are standing, give yourselves a big cheer. if you knocked on doors, if you wrote a check, if you made a difference, you turned this country around last tuesday. thank you. thank you. thank you. [applause] congresswoman custer: people keep asking me how i am holding up a nice a much better since last tuesday. i can see the light at the end of the tunnel. so because of you, i am hopeful tonight. it is your voice, it is your calls, it is your letters that have made the difference and maggie and jeannie and everybody else hold the line on health care for the united states of america. it is your voice that is making the difference, and we will need you again on this god damn tax bill. [laughter] uster: this last

week, republicans in the house and senate committee advanced a partisan tax plan that is a raw deal for hard-working new hampshire families. and don't be fooled when republicans talk about tax reform. hell no, this is nothing more than a tax scam for millionaires and billionaires and corporate special interests, and you are paying for it. [applause] : so let mean kuster walk you through it, and i will try to be quick at 429 pages. i will not hit every single one. here's what happens. the republican tax plan eliminates the reduction for interest on student loans. seriously? that is just plain cruel. [booing] congresswoman kuster: the tax plan eliminates the deduction, listen to this one, designed to encourage employers hire veterans, people with disabilities, and very low-income people that cannot find a job and are unable to

obtain work, and that is just plain cruel. and their tax scam even eliminates the deduction for teachers to buy paper and pens for their students. and that is just plain cruel. [booing] now, thisman kuster: republican tax plan eliminates the home mortgage deduction and the real estate tax reduction for individuals but maintains all those deductions for big corporations. [booing] r: that isman kuste even more cruel. congressional republicans think corporations are much better than people. but new hampshire democrats know people are people, and we need to stand up for every single last one of them. [applause]

congresswoman kuster: so keep your calls and letters coming. now, people ask us all of the time should you call us, and the answer is yes. we will vote right but then we can tell her colleagues i just got 1000 or 2000 or 3000 phone calls. the other thing you need to do as he did with health care -- and you did this and thank you -- you need to call your friends in maine. you need to call your friends in alaska. you need to call your friends in arizona and every other state, and if they are lazy you can write the letter for them and have them forward it, but we have got to put the pressure on the tax bill in the united states senate. [applause] and here'san kuster: why. the bill that was passed in the house, over our dead bodies, is a terrible bill.

i have convinced you of that. this senate bill is worse. and the reason is the senate bill slipped in eliminating the mandate for health insurance, so all of us will pay more. now i have lost track of the exact number. maybe my colleagues remember. i have voted over 55 times. i've only been there for five years. not to repeal the affordable care act. and i still do not think we should repeal the affordable care act. we can repair it. we can't fix it. i have got a good plan for that. we can lower the rates and make it sustainable in the long run. but while republicans inwe washington are giving us a raw deal, i think democrats are fighting for a much better deal. we need better wages and better jobs and a better future for all the american people. grace was with me today. we had an amazing tour at nashua community college.

they have got a fantastic program for advanced manufacturing and microelectronics. we have great jobs. % unemployment. we have tremendous opportunity. you do a two-year program at nashua community college, there is a job waiting for you with $55,000 in income. that is real money where i come from. we can do better for young people, for people that are changing careers, for people that just want opportunity, and we had an amazing day talking about fighting the opioid epidemic. this morning -- and i hope tim is in the house -- we celebrated the one-year anniversary of the state stations program in nashua. 1200 people getting their help. [applause] congresswoman kuster: and this afternoon, we had the opportunity to sit down with

people in recovery, and let me tell you there is nothing like , sitting and talking to somebody who is turning their life around, getting the help they need, getting the treatment and the recovery. but this is a long-term, lifelong chronic disease. this is not a 28 day, one in -done program. we're excited terminate the folks that revive recovery in nashua. i know there are a great recovery programs all over the state. we have to increase the number of beds, focus on education, prevention, law enforcement, it get people into treatment, lifelong recovery. new hampshire may he hit the hardest in the country by this epidemic, but we will be the first out of this, and we will lead the way, teaching communities all across this country how to do this right. [applause] congresswoman kuster: that is why was proud to create the task force. we now have 100 members of

congress, republicans and democrats working together. you will not hear about it in the press. they do not write about it when we work together, but it is happening. at the end of the year, president obama signed into law $1 billion in funding. but guess what? it is not enough. now, we are coming back with a new agenda. we are calling it 2.0. we'll make sure the funding we earn comes here and make the difference all across the state. we will make a difference, and we are going to get this done. [applause] now, timesan kuster: do change. i say to young people in my remember ashtrays in

restaurants and smoking on airplanes. i remember the death toll from highway accidents for cars without seatbelts. i remember the tragic death in the collective fear we all felt from and in the last week and last month, i had a chance to witness this and be a part of this with the #metoo campaign. thank you, all of you, for standing up for survivors of sexual assault and sexual harassment. we are drawing the line right here, right now. and whether it is the united united states congress or wall street or hollywood, we have had enough. it is not funny. we are not amused. because guess what -- every single person in the workplace deserves to be treated with dignity. we deserve to be treated with respect. we are going to make a difference. there are young people in this room who deserve a chance, and i am going to stand up and fight for them every single day. thank you for all you are doing.

thank you, new hampshire. let us go out and change the world. [applause] [cheers] >> new hampshire democrats, please welcome to the stage mr. william shaheen. [applause] mr. shaheen: i do not get any respect. [laughter] mr. shaheen: you know, i was in washington on wednesday and jeannie said to me, i cannot

come friday night, will you give my speech? i said, yeah, i will give your speech. look at what she gives me. one page. i guarantee you if she was here, she would have a book up here. she gives me one page. no respect. [laughter] mr. shaheen: for those of you who know me -- [laughter] mr. shaheen: i have three sisters and no brothers. i have three daughters and no sons. god thought it would be a good idea to make my wife a governor and a u.s. senator. [laughter] [applause] mr. shaheen: i got to tell you, for the men in the audience, i am holding out for you. you understand? i love the fact that we have an all-female delegation. i love the fact that joyce won the mayor's race. i love those things. but i still represent some of the men.

so i have made three things that i am never, ever going to do. you're never going to hear me say, hey, honey, i think we are lost. we need to stop and ask for directions. [laughter] mr. shaheen: not going to do it. you're never going to hear me say, jeannie, let us not watch the football game. let's try to find a true romantic story on tv. [laughter] mr. shaheen: you're never going to hear me say, hey, honey, let us go on shopping and let me watch you try on clothes while i hold your purse. not going to happen. although, since she has been in washington, i had to make some changes. i got to learn how to make my bed, which is a difficult thing. got to learn how to do the dishes, put the dishes in the dishwasher. i gave a shot at trying to do laundry. that is a difficult thing for guys, i am telling you right now. so i asked her to help me with

this situation. so i decided i'm going to do the laundry, and i said, honey, what setting should i put on the washing machine? and she says, what does it say on your shirt? i said, it says the university of new hampshire. [laughter] mr. shaheen: no respect. no respect. i told her the other day i was going to make her the happiest woman in the world. she says, i will miss you. [laughter] mr. shaheen: don't laugh too hard. that is not that funny. ok, so, she is not here tonight, and i do miss her. i wish she was here and i know she wishes she were here. she was asked to stand in for john mccain, leading the u.s. delegation to the security forum in canada. she is the only senator that went up to halifax to meet with the leaders from around the

world to represent the united states of america, and i am very proud of her. [applause] mr. shaheen: she wanted me to thank raymond for doing such a great job and all the people in the democratic party. she wanted me to thank carol and annie for their tireless efforts that they fight all the time. she told me, of course, one of my newest and biggest u.s. senators, maggie hassan. and then she writes to me, but i am partial to the senior senator. that is what she said. [laughter] mr. shaheen: and she wanted me to welcome and give a warm welcome to the two congressmen and the congresswoman who have come to join us here in new hampshire. congresswoman meng, congressman

delaney, and congressman ryan. did i get them all right? jesus christ. [laughter] >> [indiscernible] mr. shaheen: huh? i'm doing all right? i am doing ok? i never get a chance to speak. i have to sit and listen all the time. [laughter] mr. shaheen: we have a lot of work in front of us, democrats. a lot of work. i grabbed a quote from john adams when he was writing to his son john quincy adams as to why he should run for office. he was thinking about not running. he sends this letter to his son, and he said to his son, public business, my son, must always be done. and it will be done by somebody. if it is not done by good people, it will be done by bad people. if it is not done by honest people, it will be done by dishonest people. if it is not done by the wise, it will be done by the unwise. that is why we all have to

continue this fight. if jeannie was here tonight, she would say, don't hate. there is no room for hate, even though you could clearly justify it. you need to be focused, you need to be determined, and you need to be together, because we have to do stuff both inside new hampshire and outside new hampshire. we need to take back the house of representatives. we need to take the u.s. senate. god bless you. [applause] >> so wednesday night, i got a ,all from stephanie shaheen because she got a call from her mom. stephanie, you have to be there

with daddy to make sure he stays on script. and she says, i can't because i have got something at mit. i will call raymond. raymond will watch daddy. i am so dead. [laughter] thanks, billy. so we have a number of great vips i want to acknowledge. our former congressman. former house speaker terry marelli. former attorney general joe foster. [applause] mr. buckley: our former democratic nominee for governor, twice. counselor,executive deb.

the former executive counselor and 2016, democratic nominee for governor. executive counselor and d berlinski -- executive counselor andy. executive counselor chris. [applause] mr. buckley: senate democratic leader jeff woodburn. i.puty leader donna sous senator buddha lisandro. senator betty lasky. senator dan felton. jay caughn. on -- and senator kevin cavanaugh. house democratic leader steve.

would all of the house democrats please stand up? let's give a big round of applause. [applause] mr. buckley: and our first district congressional candidates. mark mckenzie. mesmer, harris o'rourke. chris. lincoln. laura sullivan. your shoes are so big, it takes seven of them to fill it, carol.

roosevelt's words, vision, and strength of character healed the nation and save the world. fdr was determined to use his position to improve the lives of others. so each year, we present a deserving democrat the fdr award for his commitment to justice, both social and economic. this year's fdr award recipient's entire life has been about justice -- justice in the courtroom as a trial lawyer, in the new hampshire house, the new hampshire senate, and at the department of justice. from a state rep special election victory 22 years ago, he has consistently used his position to support progressive causes here in new hampshire and nationally. as house democratic whip, senate majority leader, attorney general of new hampshire, he more than deserves the fdr award. i'm honored to present the 2017 fdr award to former attorney general joe foster of nashua. [applause]

mr. foster: i'm really honored to have this award. it is a total surprise for me. there are some people from my law firm who are not democrats, and i guess maybe i should have realized -- [applause] mr. foster: when i saw them here. [applause] foster: some of us are not that quick. i just want to say thank you to all. it has been an honor to serve the people of new hampshire in the roles that raymond enumerated.

it really has been the love of my life. thank you very much. [applause] >> new hampshire democrats, please welcome to the stage congressman john delaney. ♪ delaney: this walkout music is a new concept for me. we do not do it in maryland. and i'm a big bruce springsteen fan because i'm from new jersey. i have been to 30 concerts. so when ray asked what walkout music would you want, i said one of my favorite bruce springsteen songs, and he said it is taken.

[laughter] rep. delaney: by the great senator from new hampshire. so i said, i'm not going to pick "youngstown" because i know tim ryan will come out with "youngstown," so i had to go down the list and come up with another song. it is a good tradition, ray. but thank you all for having me. it is a great privilege to be here with you all and to share an evening that is full of such affection and love towards each other. you can really feel it. as someone who is not part of this community for a long time, it is really an impressive thing to feel. it is a great privilege to be here with the amazing federal delegation that you have here in new hampshire. a friend of mine wrote a book a few years ago, deedee myers, called "why women should rule the world." you have read that book here in new hampshire, haven't you? [applause] rep. delaney: so we gave you another book tonight, because you've already read that

one, obviously. it is great to be here with grace. we do have four members of the class of 2012 at our table there. she is doing a great job with the dnc. prior to people like grace getting involved in the dnc, your instincts were we should sell the building and move the place out of d.c. and get it closer to the people, but we got new good leadership there. it is a real blessing that we have you, grace, here. it is great to be here with my good friend tim, who we will hear from in a few minutes. startedwant to get until i think the chairman, mr. buckley. as best as i can tell, he is a real singular talent for the democratic party. [laughter] mr. foster: no, seriously. he runs a tight ship. as someone new to the scene, he runs a tight ship, he represents you well. and we are blessed to have you as a democrat around this country. [applause] rep. delaney: you make us all feel very welcome. thank you. almost two weeks ago, we started taking our country back.

we started taking our country back. we did it with terrific candidates like joyce craig, like so many other people, like the governor-elect of virginia. and these people ran by doing two things. they tapped into the energy that exists in our party right now, but they also talked to people about what they care about. campaignnot just run a saying how bad the republicans were and how bad the president is. there is a real lesson to be learned from these campaigns that i really hope we don't forget. because we are in a tough spot right now as a nation. not across the long-term. i am a huge optimist about the long-term prospects of this amazing country. if you think about how the world is going to unfold across the next 100 years, you could not think of a country better positioned to succeed for itself and importantly, for its people in the next century. but right now, we are in a really tough spot.

and i'm not just talking about the wrecking ball in the white house. it is really deeper than that. in many ways he is a punctuation of everything that is wrong with our politics. hyper partisan politics is tearing our country apart. it is dividing communities. next week, we are all going to sit at thanksgiving tables. all around this country, people are going to sit at this uniquely american holiday. instead of just talking about new ways to cook the turkey and the nfl game on television, they are going to be divided over politics. how did we let this happen in our country? how did we let this happen? maybe the biggest problem is it has prevented us from doing anything. we have had such huge opportunities, such large-scale opportunities in this nation across the last several decades, and some very significant challenges we should have dealt with it, but we did not do it. why? because hyper partisan politics prevented us from getting anything done. if you go around this country, you see huge parts that have

been left behind by rapid change that has occurred in our economies. and last election, we blamed our decision to become part of a global economy for what happened. clearly, that was the right thing to do. how could we not have become part of a global economy? but the fact that we knew this would happen, so many communities around this country, and we did nothing about it, and we still to this day -- as i have been in congress, five years, i have never voted on anything that is actually going to help the communities that have been left behind by the pace of the rapid economic change in this country and it is going to happen again. it is going to happen again. and it is not going to be because of globalization, it is going to be because of technology, automation, artificial intelligence, whatever you want to call it. if you go outside of politics and you talk to people in business, in academia, in the nonprofit world, they are obsessed with how these changes

are fundamentally changing everything. they are changing our society, our economy, the jobs of the future, what our security risks are, the demographics of this country. and are we doing anything to prepare our country and our citizens for these changes? no. i left your book at the table -- at your table today as a gesture of my thanks for you having me. by thomas friedman. it talks about how climate change in technology are fundamentally changing everything and policymakers are doing nothing about it. because of our inability to confront the change that has already happened, and because of our inability right now to deal with the changes that are about to happen, we are putting at risk one of the most sacred, fundamental ideals of this country -- the american dream, the notion that if you work hard and you play by the rules, you

and your family can live a better life. and this is very personal to me, like it is for so many of you. my parents did not go to college. my dad was a construction worker. he was an electrician. when he worked, which was most of the time, life was good. he got paid enough to support our family. and when he didn't work, we had health care. why? because he was in a labor union they gave him health care. , and they gave him health care. [applause] -- because he was in a labor union, and they gave him health care. [applause] rep. delaney: i was an entrepreneur before i ran for congress. 11 years after i graduated in college, i was taking my first company public on the new york stock exchange. i was the youngest ceo on the new york stock exchange. i remember walking into the building in lower manhattan, the monument to american industry, and i looked over my shoulder at jersey city, new jersey, which is where i'm from. and i thought of the union hall

for local 164, my dad's union. and i thought about how every year in college, i would go to that union and i would thank those electricians. you know what i was thanking them for? they paid for me to go to college. right? [applause] rep. delaney: i was not really thanking them for giving me the scholarship. i was thanking them for giving me an opportunity that none of them had. when i looked to the left, i could see ellis island, where my grandfather came in 1924 with his brothers and sisters. seven but they were all let in, but he was detained. he was a little boy. the reason they detained him is because he had one arm. back then, we did not let people into this country who were disabled, because we did not think they could contribute to our economy. after a while, he had an appeal.

he was sitting in a big room full of hundreds of people speaking dozens of languages. and the judge came in. my grandfather sitting there, a one armed boy, and he notices that when the judge walks in and puts on his robe, the judge had one arm. and he used to tell the story over thanksgiving. that's when he knew he would be an american. but these are the stories of this great country. [applause] rep. delaney: and these stories are not unique to me. you have these in your own families. these are the stories of this great country, of people coming to this country with hope, dreaming of opportunity, settling in, building their communities, building their country. people work hard, play by the rules. and they are not asking for riches. they are just asking for a fair deal. people dream about their children and make sacrifices so that they can live a better life. again, there is no guarantee.

but they want institutions that can support them in doing that. these are the stories of the american dream. these are the fiber of the american dream, but it is fraying now. right now, 60% of the kids in this country live in a county where there is absolutely no evidence of any economic upward mobility. we are basically writing off two thirds of the children in this great country from the american dream. they don't have that shot. what that means is this is becoming not a country of opportunity, but a country of birthright. we have to be born into the right part of the country or go to the right schools to have a shot. we know that those stories end. we need a president who cares about this, like you do, like i do. because you have lived the american dream, members of your

family have lived the american dream, and this country is built on these kinds of stories. we need a president will go out to parts of the country who have been left behind by this rapid change and not put forth a tax plan that will cement in a dynastic form of wealth in this country and fundamentally change the trajectory of this country forever. we need a president who will look at the tax code and say, i'm going to reform it to generate some revenues so that we can spend $1 trillion on infrastructure, rebuilding our country. [applause] rep. delaney: and guess what? that is a bipartisan idea. that is a bipartisan idea. we need a president who will look at the tax code, and instead of creating incentives for companies to move jobs overseas by going to a territorial tax system, we want a president who will change the tax code to create incentives for people to invest in communities that have been left behind. that is a bipartisan idea.

[applause] rep. delaney: we want a president who will change how the government contracts so that it only does business in places that have been left behind economically. that is a bipartisan idea. instead of ramming down the throat of the american people a tax bill that is based on people lying and selling out, we need a president who will actually use the tax code to take care of places that have been left behind, because that is our obligation. we need a president will look into the future and understand what thomas friedman was talking about in his book. he understands the world is changing and we need to do something about it. we need to make our country more entrepreneurial, because that is how you succeed in the future. we need to make our country more competitive. and importantly, we need a new social contract. the social contract that i succeeded under needs to change. we need to be preparing our kids for totally new worlds.

people are going to need to be trained across their lives. they are not going to have one job anymore. they will have four or five. health care and retirement can no longer be linked to employment, because as long as it is, people won't leave their jobs and pursue opportunities. that is the kind of president and the kind of leadership we need. we need a president who does not want to repeal the estate tax but wants to expand the earned income tax credit, a bipartisan idea. [applause] rep. delaney: but if we're going to do any of these things, what we really need a president to do is to bring us together. to restore stability to politics, to restore respect for the profession of public service . [applause] to actually begin a dialogue about the things we agree on instead of always , always talking about the

things we don't agree on. president kennedy said it well in baltimore, maryland in 1958. he said we should not seek a democratic answer or the republican answer, we should seek the right answer. that is the kind of president we need. [applause] rep. delaney: and it is not only as a matter of substance the right answer for this country, but it is as a matter of politics the right position for the democratic party to take. we believe government can and should do transformative things to lift up our people, take care of those that are left behind, and prepare us for the future. so how can we not become the party that wants government to work? that wants government to be civil? that wants there to be confidence in government? this is what the american people are craving for.

the kind of principled leadership that puts country ahead of party. that does not mean you stop fighting for your values. that doesn't mean you stop trying to advance the causes where there isn't broad agreement. but what it does mean is you take things where there is agreement, where there is broad agreement, and you get them done and you leave the country. that is the kind of president we need. because if we don't start doing that, then the grandson of the one-armed immigrant who worked on the floor of the joseph dixon pencil factory for 50 years, the son of the electrician who -- whose parents did not go to college, whose union pay for him to go and had the privilege of getting a great education, which changed my life, paid for by other people, by the way -- anyone who thinks you get it alone in this world is not following stories carefully -- goes on to found two new york stock exchange companies before i was 40 and have the privilege

of serving in congress with amazing people, and now having the opportunity to stand before you and ask for your support. it is not going to become and stay that country unless we actually bring this country together. and the democratic party can do it. it can never happen while donald trump is in the white house. he can never make the republican party a party that can bring us together. but we can, and this is our moment. [applause] rep. delaney: donald trump became the president of this amazing country because of two things. one, democrats did not turn out. two, for some reason we stopped talking to people about what they care about. i think the first part is going to take care of itself. the energy you are showing, the enthusiasm this party is showing, is extraordinary.

but we have to remember -- we have to talk to people about what they care about, not we care about. we as democrats have so many issues we care about, and i believe in the fullness of time we will be proven right by just -- proven right on just about everyone of them. but that does not mean it moves people's hearts and minds. what moves people's hearts and minds is their job, their pay, and the opportunity for their kids. every time we are not talking about that and every time we are talking about how bad the republicans are, it is a missed opportunity for us. that is how we take this country back, in my opinion. you saw it last week here in new hampshire and all around the country. if we outwork them, if we outsmart them, and if we out -value them, we can win. we can outwork them with a sense of urgency that we are losing our country. that we're losing representative democracy, and people know it. we can outsmart them by talking to the american people about

policies that they care about that is based on what is happening in the world. and we can out-value them by talking about with this country wants. they want us to be brought together. they want civility back in politics. they want a president who will spend the first 100 days only doing bipartisan things. they want leaders who don't talk about half of the country as if they are entirely wrong about everything they believe. they want the truth, they want transparency, they want confidence, they want civility. if we do that, we will restore some of their lost faith in our government. the american people have an extraordinary connection with their government. we are proud of it, we are proud of the good and noble things we have done around this world. we have not been perfect. we have not been perfect. but we fundamentally changed the trajectory of humankind, and we're proud of it. and when our government is failing, we are failing.

if we can restore faith and trust in government, we will restore people's faith in themselves. and then we can actually take advantage of the extraordinary blessings we have as a nation, put ourselves on the right trajectory, take care of those we left behind for the last several decades, and prepare this amazing country for a future that can and will be brighter. god bless you, thank you. [applause] mr. buckley: there is no cause of the democratic party that is more important than organized labor. so please join me in recognizing our brothers and sisters in labor, new hampshire afl-cio

president glenn bracket. new hampshire firefighter president bill mccullen. afc new hampshire president representative doug lay. andre gene from air traffic controllers. roger burnout. george. kerry from the letter carriers. beverly franklin from the uaw. andfriends from my vw 490 2320. would all members of organized labor please stand up? let's give them a big round of applause. [applause]

mr. buckley: after years of conversation, we changed our dinner's name from jefferson jackson to kennedy-clinton. we wanted to create an award that celebrated the generational change of both presidencies. last year, our emerging leader award was presented to dan felton. this year's recipient is already so accomplished, and she is only 26. an army medic in the u.s. army reserves, graduating this year from unh with a degree in biology, a freshman state representative serving on the state federal relations and veterans affairs committee, all at the same time along with being the executive director of the new hampshire young democrats, working with a great team of officers. she is creating such a success that she is nationally recognized for her skills and talent. i'm so pleased to present the 2017 kennedy-clinton emerging leader award to representative keane achaean -- amelia

of nashua. [applause] >> thank you, everyone and thank you chairman buckley for presenting me with this award. shocked. surprised, the second surprise i have gone tonight. the first one was having a whole table filled with my family and friends. and now i know why. this is very exciting. i just started in politics. i'm going on to my second year. i literally filed to run for office and started working as the executive director for the young dems in the same week. that was my intro to politics

and it has been great ever since. i am proud of everything we've done over the past year. it is certainly could not be done without lucas myers, the president, and the rest of the young democrats. [applause] ms. keane: thank you again to everybody who has helped along the way. i very much look forward to 2018 and what is to calm, so thank , so thankt is to come you. [applause] ms. keane: if you're a young dem in the room, we will be taking a photo after the program, so just come up onto the stage. [applause] >> new hampshire democrats, please welcome to the stage senator maggie hassan. ♪

sen. hassan: thank you. have a seat. good evening, new hampshire democrats. and thank you to chairman ray staffy and the great nhcp for this wonderful event, this full room. thank you all. [applause] sen. hassan: it is truly great to be here with congresswoman carol shea-porter and congresswoman any custer -- congresswoman annie kuster. carol, it has been an honor to serve alongside you. i want to thank you for your tireless efforts on behalf of the people of the first district and our wonderful state. thank you so much. [applause] sen. hassan: and to the incomparable billy shaheen. [laughter] sen. hassan: you told a fib or two. you said you did not know how to

make a bed, but you were a captain in the united states army, so i know that is not true. [laughter] sen. hassan: and i will tell jeannie. but what a pleasure it is to serve with the incomparable jeanne shaheen. and to be able to be meant toward by her and to learn from her. service extraordinary for this state and this country, and we should all be so incredibly grateful to her. [applause] i also want to recognize all the elected officials here. local and state, particularly -- partly because i had the privilege of serving in our state legislature -- but particularly our great democratic leaders in the house and senate in new hampshire. thank you all. [applause] sen. hassan: and just a word on

that. we are all talking about the critical importance of making sure that we work each and every day to protect our communities and our state and our country and work for the change that we know is so essential to our future. to every single person here, please don't take your eye off the ball of the importance of our state legislative seats. whether you are talking about voting rights, a woman's right to reproductive health care, the right to form a union and collectively bargain, it starts here at the state level. [applause] sen. hassan: and for those of you who, as we move into 2018 and look at how you can make a difference, if there are not enough people running for the state house or

the state senate in your district, sign up and run. we need you. [applause] also thean: and it is importance of state service and what we do here in the state that also makes me so glad that amelia won her award. amelia, where did you go? thank you, thank you, thank you. [applause] sen. hassan: and i also just want to congratulate and say a special word about my dear friend joe foster. what's today, 2017 -- somewhere almost 15 years ago, i was knocking on doors in new hampshire the night before the 2002 elections. my phone rang and it was joe. joe was wishing me well and

hoping for my success. a call he did not need to make at a very busy time for all of us. i lost that election, but joe continued to encourage me to run, as so many of you in this room did. then i had the pleasure of serving with joe, and there has never been a more dedicated public servant to doing what's right, but also finding the right way to do it. and when it was my great privilege and honor to serve as your governor and decide who i wanted to nominate to be attorney general, there was no question in my mind who it should be. there is nobody with more integrity, no one who understands the need and cause of justice better than joe foster. we are incredibly grateful, joe. for everything you have done for our state. [applause]

sen. hassan: i also want to thank our special guest tonight, representative grace meng, tim ryan, and john delaney for joining us all. we are so glad you are here. most of all, i just want to thank everybody here, new hampshire democrats. with the odds against us, you have shown up, spoken out, and thought for our values, and i'm incredibly, incredibly grateful. you fought for the wonderful joyce craig, who i am also so pleased to see tonight. as we head into thanksgiving, we have so much to be grateful for this year as new hampshire democrats. we have joyce's success in the state house and senate.

won eight special election victories, flipping four seats from red to blue. that is just the start. with joyce'sing, success, with a special elections we won -- there is nothing more inspiring than watching the next generation step forward and take charge. commendo particularly the new hampshire young democrats for your work to elect young leaders in every corner of our state. [applause] sen. hassan: as your senator, i am focusing on the work you sent me to washington to do -- fighting for a future where everyone who works hard has the opportunity to get ahead and stay ahead, where the middle class is growing and thriving, it were each generation is better off than the last, and

where we are unleashing innovative economic growth. and i am committed to working with anyone who is focused on solving problems for our people, our businesses, our economy. unfortunately, too many republicans in washington are focused on an agenda that rewards corporate special interests and the wealthiest few , while leaving middle-class families and small businesses behind. just take a look at the republican tax plan. new hampshire democrats, do you think it is right to raise taxes on millions of hard-working americans while corporate special interests gets a tax -- special interests get a permanent tax break? >> no! sen. hassan: do you believe we should risk a $25 billion yearly cut to medicare all to give the wealthiest few a tax break? >> no! sen. hassan: and do you think a tax bill should be used to sabotage our health care system?

>> no! sen. hassan: me neither. but that is exactly what the republicans want to do. it is no wonder that president trump's top economic adviser admitted that it is big corporate ceos who are -- his words -- the most excited about this plan. colleagues,lican senator ron johnson, has voiced his opposition, saying under this proposal -- and here is his quote -- there will be a real incentive to keep manufacturing overseas. we need your help to fight against these proposals. to make your voices heard loud and clear as they were in the fight against trumpcare. together, we have to keep up our momentum, harness the energy and success we have seen this year and carry it into 2018 and beyond.

next year, we will have the opportunity to keep our congressional delegation blue. and to turn the state house from the house and senate all the way to the governor's office, blue. [applause] that is why we must continue to stay organized. point,ressman delaney's to engage with our fellow citizens and to stand up for the values that make us strong. i have been confident in the dedication and ability of everyone here to truly make a difference, because i have witnessed it firsthand. we have proven that we have what it takes to remain strong and determined to fight to protect our people, our state, and our economy, and to build a better future. carol quoted winston churchill in her remarks.

robert frost said that quote a little bit differently. he said the only way out is through. our job as citizens and our job as democrats is to love and protect our country, state, communities, and each other. that is what americans have always done. [applause] and in america, the way we love each other is we fight for justice for each other. [applause] sen. hassan: we understand the value of inclusion because we were founded by people who said that every single one of us matters and counts.

many of you have heard me say this before -- our founders did not count everybody at first. but they have the confidence that every generation of americans would work to bring more and more people in from the margins into the heart and soul of our communities and our democracy and our economy. because they understood that when you do that, you unleash talent and energy that is really important, of course, for the cause of individual freedom and dignity, but you unleash talent and energy that helps us all compete and grow and thrive. that, more than anything, is what this moment in time is about. there are rough patches throughout american history. go back and look at any of the periods in which things were the most fraught, including right after this country won the revolutionary war. we continue, in the face of

incredible, difficult challenges and sometimes intensely partisan differences, to find our way forward and find our way through. that's what makes us the resilient granite staters we are, the resilient americans we are. we fight for each other, we love each other, and as we do that, we continue to form a more perfect union with liberty and justice for all. thank you all. thank you very much. [applause] mr. buckley: let's give it up for senator maggie hassan. [applause] you know, you go over the list, you spend hours

with the staff. did this one buy ticket? is everyone here? just so you don't miss anybody. and then you get a text from the former senate president. he is in the house. [applause] mr. buckley: perfection still eludes me, billy. i want to thank our sponsors. the nationn sponsors, dr. jeffrey clark and senator martha fuller clark. district council number 35. bridge communications.

these are guys that pay the big bucks that make the profits that we can have a lower price, so you white -- is so you might want to be more enthusiastic. firefighters of new hampshire. the american federation of teachers. the uaw. congressman john and april delaney. congressman tim ryan. congresswoman grace meng. the human rights campaign. larry drake and joan jacobs. , shaheente champion gordon professional association. lincoln. paul montreux. representative canning shanley. the national air traffic controllers association. congresswoman annie kuster. our primary victory sponsor, senator jeanne shaheen. senator maggie hassan. congresswoman carol shea-porter.

new hampshire afl-cio. the salem town democrats. the honorable catherine wells wheeler. ivw 490. senator betty lasky and dr. elliott lasky. paul kramer and mary gard. mclean middleton professional association. representative cindy rosenwald. the honorable judy reardon. and the national association of letter carriers. let's give them all a big round of applause. [applause] mr. buckley: eleanor roosevelt was a fearless fighter for justice. her entire life was spent working to make the world a better place for all.

for more than a quarter of a century, the new hampshire democratic party has been honoring an outstanding woman who has fought hard and succeeded in providing an opportunity for success in life, regardless of their circumstances. this year's recipient of the eleanor roosevelt award embodies eleanor's spirit. during her decades of service in our community in the house and senate, her record is exemplary. extraordinary. and she is always fighting on the side of righteousness. eight years ago in a closed-door senate caucus, she implored her colleagues to support marriage equality, because being jewish, she grew up knowing what it was like to be treated less than. she has always worked toward the goal of nobody ever feeling less than. i am honored to present the 2017 eleanor roosevelt award to senator betty lasky.

[applause] ms lasky: thank you all. i could not be more surprised or more honored. season of thanksgiving, i just want to tell you all how grateful i am and have been for the last almost 30 years to have served all of you and the people of new hampshire and the people of our great country. so i thank you so much, and i will treasure this always.

thank you. [applause] >> new hampshire democrats, please welcome to the stage congressman tim ryan. rep. ryan:. all right. we have a few ohio guys here. i want to say i wish i had brought our 13-year-old daughter here tonight to hear these that wedemocratic women

have here tonight. [applause] rep. ryan: but i did bring my beautiful wife, so everybody say hello to andrea ryan. [applause] rep. ryan: and maggie, and i know jeannie is not here, thank you for your amazing leadership on the senate side. it has been an incredible battle over the past few weeks and months and you guys have been there. carol and annie, you guys are the best. -- in ohio,to say we have a heroin epidemic of equal proportions as new hampshire, and there is not a day that goes by where we are in session where carol or any are not grabbing people around the house, saying we have got to stay organized, keep doing it. thank you for your amazing national leadership on this. [applause]

rep. ryan: grace and john, thank you so much for your leadership. john, i enjoyed your words tonight. i think you are right on the money. thank you for confirming your message here tonight. and our old buddy paul is here, my man from way back. [applause] i just want to say -- >> way, way back. rep. ryan: way back? . has it been that long? you get into politics to make a difference. and when you see people presented with the opportunity, after being in a place like the united states congress, where you can clearly sometimes make the easy decision and cling to your job and staff and title. but when push came to shove and there was an opportunity to give every single american access to

health care, it was representatives from places like new hampshire, like carol and paul, who literally put their jobs on the line to make that happen. we want to thank you for doing that. [applause] rep. ryan: those are the heroes. ray buckley, my old buddy from way back. and i mean old, ray, i mean old. that wasn't a slip of the time --tongue. and my buddy johnny who is here. -- my buddy donny who is here. when i went to law school back here, i worked in congress for a couple years. clearly had caught the political dog. i was in my first year of law school. anybody who is in their first year of law school knows you are

looking for distractions from anything but law school. so i wandered down in conquered to the democratic party headquarters, and i met someone who was running for the state senate. we had a great campaign and we almost pulled it off. is here, whosteve ran a while back. ellen and kimberly are here. they took me in when i did not have any family in new hampshire. god bless you guys, thank you so much for that. for most of my career in congress, i was single. not married. [laughter] rep. ryan: it is late, i just want to make sure you know where i am coming from. [laughter] rep. ryan: that is a certain lifestyle, as you know. then about four and a half years ago, i got married. i met my wife andrea, fell in love, and we got married.

i went from being single to being married. i married a woman who had two children. so i went from being single to being married with two kids. definite change in lifestyle. when we first got married, she got rid of her place and i got rid of my place and we went to get some neutral territory. what is the first thing you do after you get married and you have two kids and a new house? you go out and get a dog. so i go from being single to being married with two kids and now we're on a way out to get a dog. we go to the shelter to pick out out a rescue pup. what happens when you go out to get a puppy with two kids? you get two puppies.

i go from being single to being married with two kids and two dogs and 3.5 years ago we had brady. so, single. married, three kids, two dogs. just the one wife. just the one wife. something happened a few years back. i was in the family room and i something i had not noticed for a while. silence. the house was completely silent. i looked around and everybody was upstairs in bed. probably in the same bed, but that is a whole other story. what is a guy from northeast ohio do when he is alone and used to watching paw patrol and nick at night and all the kids shows? you get the remote control. and you say, oh my god, i can't

believe i got the remote control. i start flipping through the stations. yet defined some sports, right? i find a sports station that has a documentary from the old basketball coach jimmy valvano. remember jimmy v.? jimmy is giving a speech. this was great. i got the tv. jimmy was my favorite coach. he starts giving a speech and says, god must have loved ordinary people. because he made so many of us. but he said, every day, ordinary people do extraordinary things. every day, in so many different ways, ordinary people do extraordinary things.

as i am listening to that, as someone involved in the work we are involved in, i thought to myself, when we are at our best as a party, that is what it means to be a democrat. everything we do is about giving ordinary people an opportunity to do something extraordinary. [applause] rep. ryan: all of the speakers tonight touched upon this in one way or another. whether you are in youngstown, ohio or some where in new hampshire, or in the deep south, or you are black or white, gay or straight, you should have an opportunity to do something extraordinary if you are willing to put the work in to be able to do it.

that is what this whole game is about. this is about us giving ordinary people an opportunity to do something extraordinary. and the problem we have now is that the systems in which we are trying to allow our kids and fellow workers and entrepreneurs and innovators is that we are stuck in these broken systems that will not allow people to do something extraordinary. make it so difficult. look at the broken health care system. we spent 2.5 times more, we get worse outcomes. our education system is not where it is supposed to be. we rank 30th in science, 19th in math. look at our food system. we have half the country that has either diabetes or prediabetes.

look at our agricultural system that is causing algae blooms in the great lakes. dead zones at the mouth of the mississippi river. over the next 70 years if we do not do anything, we will have a six degree increase in the temperature of the planet. these systems are broken. here is the problem. my wife's dad from back home is a steelworker. we celebrated in our community a anniversary a few years back. 1977, youngstown, which is not much different than manchester or some of the working-class communities. we have an anniversary called black monday. that is when the united states

sheet and tube closed when its factories. 5000 workers, one day gone. there was no warning notice. you have 90 days and then we are closing it down. you just showed up and never locks on the gate. my father-in-law worked there. i remember when the new york post did a story. yet different text change with your football buddies and your family. we have one on our side of the family. i sent a text of the story to my wife's side of the family. i will never forget what her mom sent back. she said, i will never forget that day. never forget it. bobby came home dirty faced,

lunch bucket in hand, and we had no idea what we were going to do. we had just borrowed $4000 from his parents for a down payment on a house and got a loan for the house. and now everyone around him lost their job. no idea what they were going to do. what is frustrating is this broken economic system that we have, that was 40 years ago. that was 40 years and we have still failed to fix and economic system that has thrown millions of americans under the bus. [applause] rep. ryan: and that my friends is what this is all about

tonight in the organizing and everything else. you know why? this old system, these old rogan -- these old systems that are broken the republican party is , doubling down on the old system. in every way. the tax system that the senator talked about. the congressional delegation talked about they are doubling , down on that. like john said, and you're going to lock this in. just the way it is right now. double down. you know why? because there are a lot of people that have a lot of money that like it just the way it is. and for kickers, to pass this tax bill, they are going to go to the chinese banks and chinese government and borrow $2.3 trillion and bring the money back to the united states and we

are not going to invest it back in our people. we are not going to invest it to rebuild the country. we are going to give it away to the wealthiest people in the country. that is insanity. that is insanity. especially when you look at the fact -- [applause] ryan: especially when you look at the fact that over the last 30 years since we did tax reform the last time, 96% of income growth -- 96% went to the top 10%. the top 1% own 90% of the wealth of the country. and we are going to give that group a tax cut and borrow the money from china to give it to them? they are doubling down on the old system.

we see what is happening with climate. and they put a global climate warming denier is head of the epa. we know we are unhealthy as a country. young baby ind, a youngstown, ohio has less of a , chance of survival than a baby born in iran. and we have the republican party saying we are going to throw 20 million more people off of the health care rolls. we are going to undermine the theory program that provides health care for our citizens. this is not right. this is why we are here. this is why we have come together. this is the job before us.

the democratic party's has got to be the party that builds the new system. we have to be the party that builds the new system. [applause] rep. ryan: there has been a concentration of wealth and as , congressman delaney said, there is a concentration of opportunity depending on your zip code. we have continued to prioritize capital over labor, and it must stop. the challenges are great. [applause] ryan: the challenges are great. let me tell you a story. those of you who were in manchester a couple of weeks ago for joyce. i love joyce. she is absolutely phenomenal. joyce, you are the greatest. there was an old basketball

coach named john wooden. i know the celtics are on a roll, so you had to get irving here -- he had to steal a cleveland cavalier to make it happen, but that is ok. if you want to send tom brady to the browns, we would be happy to take him. the browns might even make tom brady a loser. i just want to tell you that. it is like a disease we have in the cleveland browns organization. i just threw myself off. [laughter] ryan: there was this great basketball coach at ucla named john wooden. back in the day, possibly one of the best ncaa basketball coaches of all time. he was coaching a young kid named lu l sender. alcinder.

a tall kid from new york city. so they dominated and kept winning. he was so good that the ncaa had to come in and say, no one is allowed to dunk anymore. they banned dunking. can you imagine? so lou was out of his mind, he had no clue what he was going to do. john wooden came by and said to him, lou, this ban on the dunk is going to be your greatest opportunity. lou thought he was insane. this is going to be your john -- your greatest opportunity.

lou went on, in order to survive, learned the sky hook and went on to the nba and became kareem abdul-jabbar and they won many championships for the los angeles lakers because of the sky-hook. that challenge -- celtic fans, you do not mean that. [laughter] rep. ryan: i was a celtics fan growing up, i don't like the lakers. that man took that challenge and he turned it into an opportunity. and the lesson for us as we look at these staggering challenges that we have is that we have to take these challenges and turn them into opportunities.

and the opportunities are there. they are there. when we need to address climate change, we are looking at industries like wind and solar that are growing at 25% a year. this country needs to double down on wind and solar and renewable energy. [applause] rep. ryan: we have a health care system that is broken. this is an opportunity for us to come in and say there is a link between global warming or food and health care and our education system. that if we start using regenerative agriculture we will pull carbon out of the air and put it back into the ground where it belongs, and we can get rid of of our food deficit and -- food deserts and make sure people have healthy food and

curve inding the cost the united states by seeing that all of this is connected. [applause] because we need to build systems. think about how revolutionary this could be. we need to start building systems that put the people first, and then build the system around the people. not have the people perpetually feed into the system. and that is what we have now. people paying into health care and not getting covered. if it weren't for some of the changes we made, he would be a lot worse. people working and working and just cannot get ahead. they just can't get ahead no matter how hard they work. that is not right. you should be able in the united states, if you put an honest

days work in, and honest week of work, you should be able to have a good and happy and successful life in this country. that is what hangs in the balance. [applause] rep. ryan: so let me wrap up by saying that we have done this before. we just gave awards away that recognize the power of the roosevelts, the power of the new deal. think about the changes in the economy now and think about the changes in the economy when we moved into the industrial age. there were all kinds of changes. and the government was not keeping up. people came together, led by our

brothers and sisters in the union movement and the united states of america. [applause] rep. ryan: those manufacturing jobs were not good jobs. they were tough. we have a museum of labor and industry in downtown youngstown. if you are ever in youngstown, come on by. [laughter] rep. ryan: better chance of ohio people coming than new hampshire, i got it. but go see what is happening. go see what happened in this place. how people lived and died and lost limbs and did not make any money and how the company screwed them over at every turn. then we all came together and said we are not going to live that way anymore. there were fights. people died. there were battles. i don't mind -- i'm irish.

there is an old irish saying, is this a private fight or can anyone get into it? [laughter] rep. ryan: i see we have a few other irish people. i am in the right room. we had to fight for it. no one is going to give it to us. no one is going to give it to us. but my old football coach used to say, you have to go take it. you have to get it. we did not have a 40 hour work weeks, we went and got it. we did not have an eight hour workday, pensions, social security, medicare, medicare, we went and got it. we do not have civil rights. we went and got it. [applause] rep. ryan: so building america 2.0 is going to take a strong democratic party.

the other team is not going to do it. we're only a country of 330 million people competing on a global over 7 billion. we're competing with 1.3 billion people in china. 1.3 billion people in india. we need every american citizen on the field playing for us with team usa jersey ready to go out there and kick some butt. [applause] rep. ryan: i never once played a lot of sports in my day, a long time ago. played a lot of sports. never once was i on a successful team that did not absolutely love each other.

just so knitted together by love and respect and appreciation for what everyone on the team had to do. whether it was in the weight room, the training room, doing sprints, or what position you played, even if you did not get an again. you practice hard to make us better. you contributed. that is what we need to get back to in the united states. the attitude that everybody matters. union, non-union, professional, worker. whatever you do, you matter in this country. you make our economy work. if you are a health care worker or a hospice worker or a waitress trying to make ends meet, you matter in this country.

you belong in the democratic party. we are going to go out and make sure you belong in this party. [applause] rep. ryan: so we have to love each other and respect each other. we have to continue to work hard as we move forward. i will just leave you with what bobby kennedy used to end a lot of his campaign speeches with. february three, energetic and passionate campaign. ease.ot promise you i do not promise you comfort. weariness,ou hardship, and sacrifice. and with these, i promise you victory.

thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you everybody, and do not forget to take your pumpkin. >> new hampshire democrats, please take your pumpkin, tip your bartenders, and there is only one way out of this parking lot. please drive safely. thank you, and have a great night. ♪ [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. 2017] ♪ [crowd noise]

>> we have a mutual friend who asked me to stop by. i missed you this summer. we were in canada.

my husband, bruce. rep. ryan: meet my wife, angela. >> 90th percentile and under. they own the country. they voted republican. think about that. [indiscernible] >> how long have you been here? >> about six months ago. [crowd noise]

>> tonight on cumin day, -- q and a, robert mury on his book. >> he was a very effective president. you can't quite figure out how, or how or why he was able to accomplish what he accomplished because he was in direct. -- indirect.

he was in it for mentalist, not a man of force. turns out without that force he had amazing capacity to manipulate people. and manipulate them into doing the things he wanted them to do while they thought it was their idea. >> tonight at 8:00 on human day on c-span. -- q and a on c-span. >> with a busy week ahead for congress we will have live coverage of two significant hearings. the senate banking committee considers jerome powell to be the next year the federal reserve. that is live tuesday at 10:00 eastern on c-span. wednesday, the focus is on alex azare. the senate health committee will consider his nomination at 9:30 a.m. eastern on c-span3. live coverage of the hearings tuesday and wednesday on c-span and c-span3, online at c-span.org,