continue helping that to happen in order to influence vladimir putin to do the right thing and stop this ridiculousness. host: representative garret graves, republican of louisiana

on c-span, c-span. org or downloading the free c-span video app. polls recently taking a look at the biden administration's handling of ukraine. this is from pew from two days ago. 18% strongly approving, 47%

strongly approving, 9% somewhat approving. 80% somewhat disapproving of the administration -- 18% somewhat disapproving of the administration's handling. another paul comes from monmouth university, saying public opinion is evenly divided -- 46% approving, 48% disapproving, despite bipartisan support for the sanctions, just 18% of republicans gave biden a positive rating. wheat will show you more about the residents call with the chinese leader later on this

morning. this first hour devoted to your calls on your message to the president about the russian invasion and the u.s. handling of it. (202) 748-8000, democrats. (202) 748-8001, republicans. (202) 748-8002, independents. if you want to text us, (202) 748-8002 --(202) 748-8003. anthony blinken the state department yesterday talked about possible steps he thought he could happen in russia. >> we believe moscow made the setting the stage to abuse a chemical weapon and falsely blame ukraine. many fracturing events and creating false narratives of genocide is a tactic russia has

used a four. we believe russia will bring mercenaries from private military groups and foreign countries to ukraine. putin acknowledged as much when he authorized recruitment of additional forces, another indication that his war effort is not going as he hoped. they are also likely to systematically kidnap local officials and replace them with puppets. this has already begun. a mayor was grabbed off the street several days ago, released yesterday in a prisoner exchange. the mayor of another city in southern ukraine was also kidnapped. this is a scare tactic, depose of local officials, put proxies in their place. host: you can find that full press conference at our website

at c-span.org and can also see it courtesy of our c-span now app. yahoo! reporting that the conversation set for later today is the first since november. biden making it clear that china will bear responsibility for any action it takes. also adding that we are concerned that they are considering directly assisting russia with military equipment. the story adding that china has denied such plans. when it comes to that message from the president, you can call us, text us, post on social media. chris, kentucky, independent line. caller: this is terrible. we have a prosecutor -- using drones in the same way.

host: let us go back to the president. when you say hang in there, what you mean by that? caller: just keep what he is doing, sanctions, try to control it the best you can. it is horrible what they are doing -- people losing everything. -- just try to keep it dealing -- doing nothing. host: let us hear from john, brooklyn, democrats line. caller: thanks for taking my call. i think the president is doing it correctly. he has not sent planes, using drones. he is doing a good job. i am not surprised about --.

i am surprised at the racial home of -- racial tone of things. they are being oppressed. host: back to the president, do you think that what the president is doing, do you approve? do you think that is good? do you think things will have to change. caller: i think there's drones are going to be sufficient. we used to have to put in soldiers, but now those drones that switch blades and missile ones, that is going to be sufficient. i did not know that russia is so weak. they do not have sufficient

technology, they have to go to china. china is like russia, russia is like china, but any of it is by surprise. host: that is john in new york. you heard him talk about drones. that was part of the announcement from earlier this week from the president when it comes to a. you can find that announcement at c-span.org. independent line, bill, michigan. about your message to the president when it comes to issues concerning ukraine? caller: if possible, i would ask him if he might reach mr. putin with the idea of lifting all sanctions, including all the sanctions for the work started

in exchange for stopping the war. and if he would not agree to that, tell him that congress will decide what to do next. i do not believe he would be happy to know that congress might decide what to do. host: what do you mean by that? caller: congress to decide to take whatever steps necessary to stop, which would be a declaration of war. host: earlier this week, the house passed it on sanctions package comes to ukraine. yesterday, the house putting on a bill that would strip russia of its trade status. c-span.org is where you can see all that activity in congress, specifically when it comes to ukraine. you can see all of this related

activity when it comes to ukraine and help -- and how washington is dealing with it. phone lines one way you can reach us, social media another way. north carolina, democrats, dorky. -- dorthy. caller: i believe our president is doing an excellent job. a president cannot be reckless. he is taking his time deciding what is best for ukraine. it is terrible what is going on. host: when you say and do what is right, do you mean what is currently going on? how far do you think the president might have to go? how comfortable would you be with help fight the president

should go? caller: i really do not want us to go to war with anybody, but i am not a military person. at what they told to do whatever nato can do, but i do not want us to go to war. host: that is dorothy in north carolina. scott in houston saying mr. president, if you will not respond militarily because of the threat of nuclear escalation, what will stop mr. putin from invading other countries. scott from twitter saying the president is doing about right. as long as ukraine is willing to fight, let us support them the best way we can. it was the senate floor yesterday where john cornyn

talking about the current activities of the u.s. and the president's leadership on these things. >> ukrainian troops need more arms, antitank capabilities, and additional aircraft. as president zelenskyy put it, the destiny of ukraine is being decided now. i believe we have a moral obligation, not necessarily a treaty obligation, but a moral obligation as the leader of the free world to support ukraine and help them defend their sovereignty and people. poland, a member of nato, offered to transfer an enteric fleet of big 29 fighters to ukraine.

ukrainian forces already know how to fight those russian aircraft and president zelenskyy assured as they are needed, but the biden administration rejected the offer out of fear that it might provoke putin or might escalate the conflict. winston churchill, another great wartime leader, aptly said, and appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last. this cannot be the policy of the united states. we cannot appease putin and we cannot afford to be timid in the face of this greatest threat to world peace since world war ii. host: your message to president biden on russia and ukraine. jerry, illinois, independent line. caller: i wanted to say that the

united states in particular assists in recalibrating the international security environment in eastern europe that mr. biden remember the concerns of the russian people in contrast to the agenda of mr. putin. but the concerns of the russian people that world war ii, they lost 20 million people to nazi fascist elements in the west. in order to apply diplomatic ethics to this serious situation, mr. biden needs to exemplify the highest level of ethical diplomacy. as robert mcnamara said after

the vietnam war, that we need to empathize with the concerns of our enemies. this means especially the people of russia, we have got legitimate concerns. host: daniel, indiana, independent line. caller: my message to president biden and help the u.s. is sort of reacting to this conflict is, hear us out, man. i would like to echo what senator cornyn talked about in defending the sovereignty of the ukrainian people. for that to happen, we have to maintain our own sovereignty, especially when it comes to the goods we consume. i like have the president is going to meet with the chinese

president in the situation room. here in indiana, we had a major fire where an entire distribution center for walmart was destroyed. a lot of products come from china. if china is going to assist russia, we have to have a hard line with them on the product we consume. that goes to the sovereignty of ukraine. if we are not sovereign with the goods we are consuming, what good are we doing for ukraine? host: that is daniel in indiana. several sources reporting about an american citizen killed in a russian attack in ukraine. the gentleman was james whitney hill, a 60 seven-year-old [captioning performed by thenat, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2022] >> we'll go live now to concord,

new hampshire, where tennessee republican senator marsha black suburban the keynote speaker at the 2022 lynn con reagan dinner. this -- lincoln-reagan dinner. live coverage on c-span. >> before we get started with the pledge. first thing is thank you for coming we appreciate the sacrifice each of you made to spend your hard-earned money at a time when we're seeing 10% inflation month over month. it is not an easy thing to ask these days. but the people in this room are the ones that can change all that. and i am hoping that each of you will commit tonight to doubling down and making sure that we can send the democrats in washington packing because that's exactly what we need to do to affect change in this country i hope you're all with me. so help me, if i have to see ann

kuster dance in that white outfit one more time. with that, i'd like to introduce lieutenant college michael move et for our pledge of allegiance. and to the republic for which i, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> if you please remain standing, i'd like to introduce lori who will be singing "god bless america." [applause] >> maybe more than at any time in the last 80 years, the lead-in to this song is appropriate. if you'll bear with me.

♪ while the storm clouds gather far across the sea let us swear allegiance to a land that's free let us all be grateful for a land so fair as we raise our voices in a solemn prayer god bless america land that i love stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above from the mountains to the prairies to the oceans

white with foam god bless america my home sweet home ♪♪ [applause] scott: thank you. i now would like to introduce concord g.o.p. treasurer, jim mcconaughey, for a special presentation and announcement.

jim: you'll see the ukrainian flag off to your right and we've all been watching the images on tv and reading the stories and seeing the terrible tragedy that's happening to everyone there. it's distressing, it's heartbreaking to watch men, women and children die for the very freedoms that all of us enjoy so much. if you're like me, you've been saying to yourself, i wish i could do something to help. so our chairmen have given the green light for to us pass the plate tonight and ask you to put whatever you think is -- you'd like it put in it. it's a free will offering. we hope you will be generous. but we're going to make sure that money gets to some humanitarian aid for the people of ukraine. if you've run out of money,

cash, because you spent so much coming here tonight, you can write a check and make it out to the concord g.o.p. and just make sure you put the word ukraine down on the bottom of it. thank you very much. [applause] scott: thank you, skwr*eup. so, i did -- jim. so i did -- you may all sit. thank you. at church, that's usually where they do the second and third song. so it's confusing so. , i didn't introduce myself before. i'm the chairman of the merrimack county republican committee. i am honored to be here and honored to welcome senator blackburn as our keynote speaker. and we'll be looking forward to hearing her in a bit. if you have not heard her speak before, you're in for a treat. so with that, we have a large, large, large number of sponsors. so i hope you'll indulge me for

just a few minutes while we thank them for their generous donations and purchasing tickets and tables here this evening. we have two sponsors, dr. matthew gomez and friends of chris sununu. we have a county, city, hero group, tom murray, the honorable steve dupree, and senate president chuck morris. we have victory team sponsors, mike and robin biendo from assent strategies, gale brown for congress, robert burns for congress, sandy geisler and tina petrezielo. john paul moran, nova's public affairs, candidate for the second congressional district, dean powerrier, reliable insurance solutions, the honorable pam tucker, our nhgop vice chair. we have table sponsors of andrew

and ken, representative howard pearl, the new hampshire federation of republican women, and karen tessaman for governor. i'd also like special thanks to thank howard pearl and pearl and sun farm for the gift basket. alan glassman and beth malsey for their photography tonight. jim mcconaughey who is a g.o.p. treasurer, thank you him for keeping us on track and budget. and ken for his time in show officer skills. let's give them all a big round of aphrauls. [applause] there are two other people that i need to thank tonight because tonight just does not happen without these two individuals and they didn't list themselves really on the program. so, first is carry marsh -- carey marsh -- carrie marsh.

is carrie in the room someplace? [applause] i think i have 200 emails from carrie this week as she tried to keep andrew and on i track and we really appreciate all that she did for developing the program and spectrum and all of the work they do to help our candidates here in new hampshire. also i need to thank andrew georgovitz. andrew is about the hardest working guy you'll ever meet in your life and all of this is him and he says i'm pretty good looking but i think it's honestly because of him. he really makes all of us look good. let's give andrew a big round of aphrauls. [applause] -- applause. [applause] so now the moment that you're really all waiting for and that's dinner. so we'll have the staff start seconding you out by table -- sending you out by table. enjoy your meal this evening and we'll be back in a little bit to hear from senator blackburn. thank you.

[applause] >> i didn't want them to get to choose the table i wanted to choose the table. because i like to eat first. table three and table four, could you guys please go eat first. head up to the buffet line. so tonight for all my wonderful catholic friends out there, we do have a vegetarian option. we have a vegetarian lasagna and the chef tells me we have a very hearty len till soup -- lentle staoup -- lentil soup. so we have two option. everybody else, i got you steak. so, i do what i can for the team. we'll be back to the program shortly. ♪

host: our first guest of the morning serves on the house arms service committee and is the chairman of the subcommittee. thank you for joining us. to that last title, as part of your work on that committee, one of the things you have to do is calculate how things get from various places to ukraine and what goes into the calculations? guest: they have all the programs in the u.s. military. omar bradley once famously said that strategy is for amateurs and logistics is for professionals. as we are talking this morning the transportation command, the special unit that deals with logistical supplies is working around-the-clock. president biden new military assistance. all of that equipment flows through. the four-star general is highly

decorated, and air force pilot. she is the commander. we get a chance to get briefed by her and this is their finest hour. they are doing outstanding work getting the equipment into eastern europe. it is going directly into ukraine, but there is ground transportation taking it to various groups because they have to be careful to avoid any russian military attacks. it is moving very fast. that is something people ask me a lot about. but then what? the fact is, we have really highly capable people who are doing the hard work of planning and getting the plane's income and making sure it is getting transport, so it gets to places all the way into eastern ukraine. it is an amazing success. a lot of it is classified, but

over time, it will be a significant story. host: how long before those supplies actually reach their destination? guest: we are talking days. it is somewhat of an overlooked aspect of the command. but that is where the professionals are. host: what do you think about this list? what do you think happens on the ground there? guest: ukraine has become a graveyard. for rush kwrab tanks -- for russian tanks.

they have done tremendous damage. in terms of their lack of coronation with ground forces. -- coordination with ground forces. the new equipment that was approved yesterday, number one, the volume of it is immensely larger than in prior shipments. it will also be in the case of much more sophisticated technology. again, i think it is a significant upgrade to efforts to hit all her -- artillery positions and armored forces. host: the editors take a look at this list as well. they make this assessment saying, when it comes to equipment, it will help, but it is unfair to ask why it has taken weeks of bombing to make this happen. the latest package reportedly

includes the switch plates, but the pentagon should have delivered all those switch blades at the start of the war and then contracted to buy more. as far as getting things there sooner, what do you make of that? guest: 50% higher than any year prior to 2021. again, prior to yesterday's announcement, there was another 300 to 400 million. the last three weeks, being very close, the people have to actually perform the mission.

it has been around the clock, the flow is getting in there. there's no question that the ukrainians now have demonstrated that they are a country that is ready to fight and fight hard. to protect their homeland. what we saw in terms of the announcement, that is not the end. there are going to be more. they are still under intense there are other options still under intense review in terms of giving them more capability, particularly in terms of surface to aramisles to create, again, a closed airspace, as the president so powerfully requested. host: this is our guest. joe courtney.

you probably heard this argument about the use of jets over in ukraine. it was a similar case that came from the senate floor from john cornyn of texas about why we're not using them. i want you to listen to what he had to say and then get your assessment of it. >> ukrainian forces already know how to fly those russian aircraft and president zelenskyy assured us that they are desperately needed. but the biden administration rejected the offer out of fear that it might provoke mr. putin or, in the terms of war, might escalate the conflict. winston churchill, another wartime leader aptly said, and appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping that it will eat him last. this cannot be the policy of the u.s. we cannot appease vladimir putin and we can't afford to be timid.

host: that was the senator's take. what do you think? guest: i totally reject the notion that president biden is an appeaser. he's united nato in a way that i don't think has been seen really since its origin. after world war ii. we have more military participation from the 29 chris of nato than anyone could have possibly predicted a month ago. no one would have ever expected germany to double its defense budget in the last three weeks, which is exactly what's happened. he is right that ukrainian pilots are trained. but he leaves out the real logistical questions about where did they fly from? who fuels them? who repairs them? again, the notion that there's air fields in ukraine that can handle the capability is highly

questionable and, again, when the poles made the offer to transfer, but it was the ramstein airbase in germany, which is a u.s. airbase, you know, that, again, is something that i think our nato allies would view as really drawing nato directly into the air space and conflict where airplanes would be getting shot down, russian airplanes would be getting shot down, which has high escalatory risk. and there are republicans in the house who definitely agree with that point of view. in the meantime, that does not mean the shipments of shoulder-mounted anti-tank weapons and the stings that are can take low-flying aircraft is the end of the story. there is definitely discussions about s-300 surface to aramisles that slow -- air missiles that slovakia has made an offer to give to ukraine.

those are missiles that can take out planes at a higher altitude than stingers. secretary austin made it clear yesterday that it is something that they want to actively pursue to see if they can get that capability inside ukraine. there are a lot of pieces that you have to think through. and end games you have to think through. at this point, the notion that we are appeasing putin, whose military operations have been almost an embarrassment in terms of how poorly it's been executed, but also because of the increased assistance, it started last year, in 2021, and has continued until yesterday, again, i think we have done good work in terms of bolstering ukraine's defenses. host: our first caller for you.

caller: thank you. i wanted to say, thank you for taking my call and i am looking at the situation that we are looking at right now, and why aren't we looking at attacking russia? why aren't we looking at the border of alaska at this point? we have to think about that they are on the border of ukraine and they are taking that so why aren't we putting pressure on this end because their military is so depleted at this point and we are such a power. i want to know, why are we even considering this, and if we are hopefully it is in secret because we have to keep this. guest: i do not think there is any appetite for invading or occupying russia.

there is clearly appetite for weakening with a variety of tools in the toolbox. we have not talked about economic sanctions. it has reduced the ruble to almost worthless currency value. the economic sanctions were done for cash reserves of russia. which putin thought they could compound to write out any sanctions. they have now been totally locked up and frozen. his own circle of corrupt oligarchs are really feeling the pinch. vladimir putin's speech, this incredibly delusional, nasty paranoid speech, not at least lashing out at his inner circle. that didn't happen in a vacuum. it happened because our military assistance in ukraine's heroic defense has

stalled russia's advance, but also the economic sanctions have really brought the russian economy to its knees. this is not going to vladimir putin's plan and i think it is important for our alliance to hold firm, to keep getting that assistance, but to actually start a war into the territory of russia? i do not see that on anyone's radar. caller: good morning. i have one question for mr. courtney. if biden is so against russia why in the world is he trying to make a deal in iran for oil that will only profit russia and china?

he better get his head out of the sand and start protecting america. do you know how many people have come across our southern border? as many as have left ukraine. and we are not being protected. we better get the gas and all going in this country. we will need it until the day jesus christ steps foot in israel. host: that is a lot for our guest to consider. guest: negotiations are unilateral. -- multilateral. there are countries who came together to sanction iran because it blatantly violated international law with its nuclear program. when the prior administration dropped its support for the sanction regime and it basically went off

of -- it went alone, and terms of trying to disrupt the nuclear program. all we have seen is that they have created more material. they've enhanced uranium. right now, what this coalition of countries is trying to negotiate is getting that genie back in the bottle, making sure that the risk of a nuclear armed iran never happens, which i totally agree with you that it should not happen. this is not about getting oil released into the market. this is about trying to stop a nuclear-armed iran. host: mark, independent line. massachusetts. caller: hi, good morning. thank you for being on, congressman. all i have to say is that after watching the news last night and this war being continually disgusting by civiles being targeted and

murdered, i believe what we need to do, we need a huge military buildup of planes, drones technology, etc. of american equipment and american soldiers and have the president shipped all these resources there and called up vladimir and say, what do you want to do? i think -- i do not think politicians realize -- maybe -- i do not know what the pentagon is saying, but it seems like russia's army is not very capable, if all they can do is -- bomb apartment buildings, hospital, etc. just murder civilians. they don't even fight the ukrainian army. we have all seen history and we have seen movies like gladiator and we have seen these huge wars

that took place where the men and the soldiers -- women can fight, if they want, but they would go out to a field and fight. so i think ukraine -- vladimir has to be told that we will protect the people of ukraine. host: if you look at the package signed into law on tuesday. $14 billion for ukraine. half of which was of a military nation. guest: in that path, about $3 billion or $4 billion is going to nato, just troe respond to the questioner's call. it is to do precisely what he said, to boost u.s. presence in the baltic countries, and poland, romania and other allies that are very close to the russian border. the president made it very clear. not one inch of nato territory

is going to be left undefended and that package, which he signed into law on tuesday. it will accomplish precisely what you are describing, and i would say -- i come from a defense district. there are 15 attack submarines that are there. this budget that he signed has a 6% increase for defense spending. it is higher than the prior administration and it is to strengthen programs like the submarine program, which is definitely a factor, and terms of putin's recapitalization. i am somebody who is very sensitive to vladimir putin's maligned behavior. they are actively involved in protecting our country and naito

from the maligned behavior. host: do you think it will force the u.s. to think about how big the defense budget should be? >> about a week and a half the fiscal budget will be released and i think pedro could come down on it and break it down, but my expectation is that particularly based on the budget that was just signed, which had a big increase, but that baseline with some growth will be included in it. there is no question. i think this outrageous, vicious invasion has kind of changed the dynamic of capitol hill and in our country about the fact that we live in a world where we cannot assume that particularly some of these competitive forces that are out there like china

and russia are not going to be friendly and here for international rule of law which has been closely violated in ukraine. host: we saw the congress yesterday pass a bill on trade status. what is the real impact of this bill, if it becomes law? it is a profound impact. one of the things that russia fought for after the fall of the union was to get the status. what u.s. is saying is, it is time to remove that privilege trading status with the civilized world, which is what wto consists of. this is the democrats line. caller: my question is, how did the missile launches coming into ukraine presented?

the reason i ask is, if we are focusing on a no-fly zone and defense, has russia changed their strategy to ground to ground? are we providing enough? guest: that is a great question because when we look at the maps and we sue a description of a bombardment of ukraine, sometimes people visualize that we are talking about the blitz in london with planes flying overhead and dropping bombs. they're missile strikes primarily. some are coming from artillery. that is where i think the javelins and switchblade will be very effective, in terms of trying to eliminate or reduce the risk. some of the missiles i actually

-- some of the air to ground missiles are actually being launched outside of the air space. some of these missiles are being fired from russian air space. that raise as whole other lair ever of complexity to this question of no-fly zone. are we saying that nato forces are going to fly into russian airspace to take out those missile launches? the s-300's from slovakia which i mentioned earlier -- that is the best defense for ukraine, in terms of the missile launches. it would be invaluable right now. putin, because of their ground invasion has reverted to a vicious attack on civilian populations. we need to protect these brave people.

host: here is john, republican line. caller: i wanted to talk about declaration of war and the second is more profits. i was talking to a recently retired general. i served in korea myself, in the 80's. we are just a speedbump in korea, as we have always been so i get the concept of why we are across the world, but here is what the retired general told me. he said we have 34 four star generals in the pentagon today and we have not won a war since world war ii. we took on the world and we saved the world from nazis. we have had in this wars for no other reason than to make profit for the defense industry.

eisenhower warned us of a -- of that. the people in ukraine are good people, but the government is corrupt, as they are anywhere on the planet. why don't we be honest with the people. we are in it for profit, not democracy. guest: particularly his comments about whether the pentagon is top-heavy is a completely legitimate fact. i do think, and my conversations with defense leadership and some of the new team, there is a lot of interest in rebalancing, just the personnel expenses within the pentagon. i would say, if you look at the percentage of gdp that goes into defense spending, back when general eisenhower made that

incredibly powerful speech, it was closer to 10%. we have a much bigger economy so some may say that is comparing apples to oranges, but i do not think anybody is interested in the u.s. military and a war in the ukraine. i think the president made every effort to warn vladimir putin about the damage he would do to his own economy and his people if you took this outrageous step. at this point, the assistance that we are giving to the people of ukraine -- a lot of it is just to the people at a grassroots level. it is about defending their physical safety and defending their sovereignty, which is totally in accord with international rule of law, which is the fundamental goal.

our country and allies are seeking to protect it. host: i want to ask about covid funding. we have seen the white house asking for more. where does it stand as of today? guest: we are trying to find ways to come up with a package that can get 60 votes in the senate, to get more of the vaccines and viral treatments. we are not out of the woods yet. we have seen a spike in europe again. knock on wood, it is a less lethal version of covid. for those vaccinated and boosted, they are in a better position to resist. i think the request is totally valid. it fell off the table when we passed the omnibus, but that does not mean that we will stop trying to find a way to get that done. the speaker made that loud and clear.

the chair of the appropriations committee is focused like a laser, trying to get that last piece of the package done. host: you are on with representative courtney. go ahead. caller: i would like to know what intel you have to make all these decisions. it seems for five years, we have listened to vlad bad, but now we are hearing that the u.s. government is bad. where did you get the intel? guest: if there is one success of this whole event, it is that the u.s. intelligence service transparently predicted what putin was going to do. unlike past crises, where the intelligence community was very stingy and unwilling to share

what they were learning, i think they made a really good decision to get it out there to the world so number one, the thought process was going to change, and it has, in terms of recognizing all the wishful thinking. that he could participate in a civilized way in world affairs. it has been demonstrated, as the intelligence community predicted. he was hell bent in terms of invading ukraine, taking -- con coring a country -- conquering a country, violating an internationally recognized border really for -- in a way that we have not seen since the end of world war ii. whether it's signal intelligence or human intelligence, the u.s. intelligence community had, they were really spot-on in terms of the accuracy of what

they were sharing, and they were very transparent about it. host: representative courtney thank you for your time. [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. 2022] >> we'll go live now to concord, new hampshire, where tennessee republican senator marsha

blackburn is the keynote speaker at the 2022 lincoln-reagan dinner. this event hosted by the concord city and merrimack county republican committees. live coverage on c-span.

>> so thank you. [applause] >> a lot of new faces. again, thank you to friends and family that took the time to buy tickets, to sponsor tickets for the youth, our young republicans table, thank you so much for being here tonight. [applause] and to all the candidates that

took the time, fundraising money to be here tonight, thank you again. so, with that, it is my esteemed pleasure, as the chairman, to introduce a guy you might know, a pretty nice guy. he's got a good office, despite being the corner of the building, but he is our republican governor, chris sununu. governor sununu: all right, all right. good to see everybody. [applause] thank you, thank you, thank you. please, please. great to be here. awesome. in a room. everyone's here. full house. kicking off the 2022 season. and i think that's -- that is the biggest takeaway. i know you didn't come here to see me. we came to see senator blackburn is joining us, thank you so much. i get the honor of introducing the senator in just a bit. but i do want to take a second, for those of you who, you know, we haven't done a